 Sergeant Alvin C. York, he made a talk, there was a huge crowd and I was standing on the bench in the back of the room and I kept asking my mother, where is he? I was expecting a giant of a man because they said he'd done so much. When he stood up to make his talk, she said there he is and I said, my God, that little war frat, he couldn't have done all the things that they said he'd done. He was strict. He had a set of rules that you'd followed and I mean he enjoyed life, he wasn't abusive, wasn't mean or anything, but I imagine the strictness came from his training and then he had five or six years of being in the military. Well, everybody here just thought he was a farmer and he did a little something in the moor but he never would talk about it. I knew from my childhood that he was a war hero. I would hear that in my family as I was growing up that he was a war hero and that's all that was said. I didn't realize all that he had done. I have learned more about what he'd done after he's passed away than I did the whole entire 58 years I lived with him. He didn't talk about it. My dad was not a boastful individual. He didn't want to brag on anything that he'd done, he kept that internally and so that says a lot about his character. He liked to work behind the scenes and no doubt that's probably part of what earned him the merits in the war is he done, as he said, he done what had to be done. The action was January 24th in 1945 near Hussain, France and winter and a deep snow and the Americans and allies were, had been moving the Germans back and they made what they considered the final stand. He had been in a hospital because he had suffered a severe hip injury which actually left him with a permanent disability for the rest of his life. He slipped out of the hospital because he was going to send him home and he hitched a ride back up to the front. They were pushing the Germans back over across the Rhine River and his battalion was always in the front. There were Germans coming in with tanks and in great numbers and Colonel Ramsey was trying to decide how to counter this. They knew these tanks were coming but they didn't know where they're coming from or what. And Colonel Ramsey says, you know, if we don't find where those tanks are, they're going to wipe us out, Garland Connard. I said, I'll go find them. He said he would go out and he picked up a spool of telephone wire and they ran about 400 yards through the American forces and it was in the, in the forest and out in front of the American lines. Zero weather in the snow and got in a small ditch and then when the tank started coming, he started calling artillery in. They kept advancing in and got within, I think maybe five or ten yards of his position. He actually called in artillery on his own position. For three hours, he called artillery in, destroyed the six tanks, killed 50 of the German infantry and wounded another 100 until they retreated. So he saved his battalion by doing that because they could not have stood up, had the river to back and the tanks in the front. And he was willing, obviously, to give up his life to save the battalion that was behind him. To tell you the truth, these escapades that he done that caused him to merit the Medal of Honor, I didn't know those laughter he has deceased. After these people started, we had no idea that he'd done that because he wouldn't talk about it. He didn't want people to think that what he'd done during service was to be bragged about. General Ramsey contacted him numerous times to try to get him to apply for the Medal of Honor, but he wouldn't do it because that was the way he felt. He didn't ever want to apply for that in his young days, but as he got older, you know, he wished he had. When I told Richard that he could go ahead and apply for the Medal, I looked at Murl and he was looking at me so straight with tears in his eyes and crying. And I know that he wanted him to do it too. Now, my dad was honest. He didn't want to draw attention. He didn't have a lot of education, so he didn't make a large farmer. He just, you know, raised me and cared for us with the farm that he had. His impression was always do what you say you're going to do. If you say you can do it, do everything you can to do it. If you promise something, fulfill your promise. I feel like that Murl would have liked for all the veterans to know that he did what he felt like he had to do, and he was proud of it. I'm proud of what he did, and I hope I can take care of that medal the way it's supposed to be taken care of. He was Clinton County's hero, and he's my hero. Always has been. Always will be.