The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-01

Out DTlBnt anu early the next morning
and importune his Captain for a dis
charge and a red chevron and a ticket
home.
1t is worth repeating than no more
modest hero ever entered the portals
OF New York than Sergeant York.
Honors were paid to him that were
enough to turn the head of almost any
man, but Sergeant York accepted them
all with the utmost calm, not III the
sense that he seemed to think they
were due him, but just because he
couldn't get out Of accepting them, and
so as a good soldier he did 1t with
just as little FUSS as possible. He never
went anywhere that he WASN'T recog
nized and cheered and called upon io-
a speech. and so far the records show
he never made a speech; he just
grinned and waved his hand and
blushed until his face We'd with his
hair for redness.
The nearest he came to making a
speech was when he was the guest of
honor at a big dinner in the Waldorf,
where he sat between an Admiral Of
the navy and the commanding General
of his own division Ma or-Gen. George
B. Duncan-and even then his speech
consisted OF some fifty words. He said
he thanked everybody, and didn't know
that he had done anything much, but
II they thought he had he was glad.
Probably no private soldier in the
United States Army was ever honorcd
in Washington as York was honored.
He was taken to the capital by Con-
- n var
making a round Of the War and other
departments and after having been
congratulated and made much of by
all the Secretaries and heads of de-
partments, York was taken into the
gallery of the House of Representa-
tives. And there he was seen and the
House rose Ell masse to him, yelling
and shouting and waving and giving
him a demonstration such. as is ac-
corded to few visitors TO that body.
And York's response was a wave o:
the hand and a grin and a blush.
AT the Winter Garden.
But York's greatest triumph probably
came when he went to the Winter
Garden to see the show. No sooner
had he seated himself in the box be-
tween two OF the most eminent menl-
bers of the Tennessee Society than he
was recognized. The audience began
cheering and called loudly for a speech.
But again Sergeant York did nothing
but bow, wave his hand, grin and
blush. Atterward he went behind the
scenes and had a talk with the beau
ties of the chorus, who lionized him
more than anybody else had ever done.
And to these young women Sergeant
York unbosomed himself of the tale of
his exploits in the Argonne, although
nearly every time anybody else had
asked him TO tell about 1t the sergeant
had always blushed, squirmed I'M
easily and answered.:
law. shucks. I didn't do nothing
much"
But the high command Of the army
SAYS that York did do something-it
says that Sergeant York performed
the most remarkable individual feat
of the war. And It was Investigated
to the limit, too; soldiers who were
with or near York on that day went
before high officers and made affida-
Wits and told their stories. and the up
shot Of It all Is that Sergeant York
stands before the American people to-
day as their greatest hero Of the war.
He was one of the few soldiers OF the
army to be commended publicly by a
Major General commanding an army
corps-and Major Gen. c. p. Summe
rail-, commanding the corps Of which