A unique team of expert researchers and scientific investigators from the US, France and England was assembled to unearth (literally) the story of Sergeant York's endeavors in France.
Dr. Thomas J. Nolan, Director, Laboratory for Spatial Technology at Middle Tennessee State University. A geographer who specializes in the application of Geographic Information Science (GIS) for historical interpretation.
Dr. Michael Birdwell, Associate Professor of History at Tennessee Tech, Cookeville, Tennessee, and the curator of the York papers. Michael knows more about York than anyone, having access to the personal papers and has worked on the project for nearly 20 years. Specializing in cultural history with an emphasis on film. In addition to his teaching duties, Birdwell works in association with the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation as the curator of the Alvin C.York papers housed in Pall Mall, Tennessee. He acted as consultant and “talking head” for A&E’s biography segment about the life of Alvin York. He received his B.S. and M.A. from Tennessee Tech and his Ph.D from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
He has published articles in Literature /Film Quarterly, Film and History, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, the Columbia Companion to American Film, and Hollywood’s World War I: Motion Picture Images.
He is the author of the book Celluloid Soldiers, Warner Bros campaign against Nazism, and the Co-Editor of Rural Life and Culture of the Upper Cumberland which includes an article about Sgt. York and Popular Culture, and he has published numerous other articles on York.
Michael Kelly, a British historian and battlefield tour guide, formerly a police detective and a member of H.M. Forces.
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Above (left): scores of artefacts were unearthed and methodically tagged and documented, also providing data for the computerised GIS system. (Right): Michael Kelly (pictured left) working on the artefacts and Birger Stichelbaut from the University of Ghent.
David Currey (right), a historian and Executive Director of the Travellers Rest Plantation and Museum in Nashville.
He has worked over the last several years with the city of Nashville and other areas around the state to promote Civil War preservation and tourism. A few of his recent projects include the Tullahoma Campaign, historian for the new Fort Negley Historical Park in Nashville, Tennessee, and development of an interpretive plan for a new visitor’s center at Ft. Negley.
In March 2007 he was part of an expeditionary team that visited France in search of the Sergeant York battlefield. He is currently producing a documentary on York and the American experience in the Meuse-Argonne offensive during World War One.
Pictured with Thomas J. Nolan (left).
Jim Deppen, a historian from Nashville, Tennessee.
Birger Stichelbaut, an archaeologist from the University of Ghent, Belgium.
Eddie Browne and Ian Cobb, English battlefield historians.
Frederic Castier, battlefield historian and translator from Calais, France.
All necessary landowner permissions for the team to operate and dig had been obtained by Yves Defossé, the French archaeologist who accompanied us on many occasions.
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Left to Right
Tom Nolan, Michael Kelly, Jim Deppen, Olivier Brun, Yves Desfossé, Michael Birdwell, M. Roland Destenay (Mayor of Châtel Chéhéry)
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Sergeant York Project
© 2007 Worldwide Copyright Reserved Tom Nolan, M. Kelly
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