SYDE NEWS

Artifacts go to Washington D.C.
Sergeant York battlefield artifacts to go on display in the Pentagon and museums across the United States.

In February 2009, the actual artifacts recovered from where Sergeant York earned the Medal of Honor on 8 October 1918, were transferred to the Center of Military History (CMH). This included roughly 1,000 of the most important items, encompassing some 30 different types of American and 70 different types of German items, personal effects, equipment pieces, etc. The items included German and American bullets, cartridges, canteens, pieces of belts, buttons, combs, brushes, mirrors, whistles, bottles, bayonets, watches, first aid kits, entrenching tools, coins, gas masks, horse shoes, harmonicas, mess kits, straps, hooks, etc.

This endeavor goes back to our extensive research in the US and German archives to once and for all resolve the debate on whether there was evidence that York accomplished the incredible feat; capturing 132 German soldiers after eliminating a German machine gun position and single handedly fighting off a bayonet attack. The artifacts from the fight between York and the German Imperial Army were exactly where they should have been – even after ninety years. After thousands of painstaking man-hours in the French Argonne Forest, we carefully recovered these valuable pieces of American history.

After the recovery of these items was accomplished and our findings were concluded as accurate (see endorsements left), we worked with officials in France, Germany and the USA to construct the Sergeant York Historic Trail and erected two monuments to forever preserve and mark the location where York’s incredible feat occurred. These were dedicated on the 90th anniversary of the event in October 2008.

Moving the artifacts took coordination with an incredible amount of diverse government officials from Europe and the United States, customs, the US Army and the USAF. The flight was fantastic and we flew in an USAF C-17 cargo plane with a watchful eye on the artifacts.

Upon arriving in Washington DC, we documented each item with professional artifact technicians from the Center of Military History, who now have responsibility for the items. They plan to first display these items in the Pentagon and then in museums around the nation (CMH has oversight of some 53 museums around the world).

During the handover of the precious artifacts, CMH conducted a ceremony that included members of the York family and the CMH leadership. The purpose of this event was to celebrate the preservation of the physical evidence related to one of the most amazing feats of heroism in American history. 

The Sergeant York Discovery Expedition is pleased to announce the official opening of the SGT. York Historic Trail and Monument.  SYDE teamed up with Grandpre Developpement and the Boy Scouts to build the 2 mile loop-trail. The trail takes visitors through the battlefield where the 82nd infantry fought for the Argonne and eventually leads to the SGT. York Monument.  The stone plaque is located near the exact location were York fought off a German-led bayonet attack while capturing 132 German prisoners on 8 OCT 1918.
The historic trail and monument honors York, all those who served in France during WWI and preserves an important chapter in American Military history.  Below is a photo of the plaque fresh out of the shipping crate.