A reluctant soldier’s astonishing valor

Alvin York with his mother and one of his younger sisters at home in Pall Mall, Tennessee (Photo Credit: Wikimedia)

Third-grade dropouts rarely make history. Born in 1887, Alvin York shared a two-room log cabin with his parents and ten siblings in rural Appalachia. He quit school to work their small plot of land, shoot small game and help in his father’s smithy. After his dad died in 1911, York became the primary provider for his mother and eight younger siblings. As a young man, he blew off steam in town by drinking, fighting and…