October 2008
The Sergeant York Memorial is in place and was inaugurated earlier in October 2008. It was placed at the spot where the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) led by Ltc Mastriano say that York was involved in his fight on October 8, 1918.
The Sergeant York Project Team maintain their arguement that there has been a distortion of history in the claim by Mastriano. Sadly the case for arguement for both teams has not been tested by any recognized authority. The Sergeant York Project Team eagerly await such a test and are confident that their methods and evidence will withstand such close scrutiny.
The Sergeant York Project team (Dr. Tom Nolan) consisted of professionals in their field. Kids were not used to circumspectly scan the landscape for pieces of battlefield relics. The Project Team had clear objectives, using scientists who are recognised in their respective fields and using methodology designed for such explorations.
Clear cataloguing of artefacts was effected using state of the art technology to determine their exact position, not the haphazard search and recovery methods that we know were used by the other team.
Read on for a fuller picture……………
A Memorial in the Wrong Place
Earlier this month there was great celebration in Châtel-Chéhéry. On Saturday 4th October, led by the (S.Y.D.E. - Ltc Mastriano) a new memorial was commemorated on the side of a hill outside the village where they say Sergeant York fought. This is an impressive monument and in attendance were dignatories from France, the U.S. and Germany. Sunday 5th October was meant to inaugurate a bronze bust of Alvin C. York by ourselves, the Sergeant York Project. (Dr. Thomas Nolan) Sadly the bust had not arrived in time and this will be put in place later.
Why LTC Mastriano is wrong.
1. The S.Y.D.E. site is on a hill which was in the center of the 2nd Battalion attack
2. The true York site as discovered by the Sergeant York Project Team is in the ravine by the side of a creek.
3. The true York site was referred to by two officers in the division, Captain Danforth and Major Buxton. (Buxton went on to write the history of the 82nd Division.) Both officers independently annotated a map in 1929 for the Army College re-enactment. (This map is produced in Dr. Nolan's dissertation) The routes, albeit they differ slightly, are almost in the center of the Project Team artefact discoveries.
4. LTC Mastriano has chosen to ignore the American source documents and relied heavily upon German accounts which cannot be counted upon for accuracy.
5. LTC Mastriano's paper has many pages of bibliography, almost entirely German sources. He has no footnote references so it is impossible for the student of his work to link to any meaningful connection with his study.
6. LTC Masriano has never offered a plausible explanation regarding the 328th Infantry Company G Unit Collar Disk that was found by the Project Team at their location. This is compelling evidence that York's patrol was in that area. This he and others have chosen to ignore.
7. Also ignored are the Grave Registration Blanks that were discovered by Dr Nolan in the American Archives. They relate to the six of York's patrol that were killed on that morning and buried close by. The Blanks give co-ordinates of the burials. These have been annotated by Dr.Nolan onto a map and show the burials close to the site where the Project Team were working. (See Dr.Nolan's dissertation for a map on this feature) This has been ignored by LTC Mastriano.
8. Much emphasis has been placed upon the S.Y.D.E. discovery of .45 cases. It is patently obvious from the York Project exploration that many more American soldiers were using these weapons than was thought. No conclusive evidence can be drawn on this subject,
9. The S.Y.D.E. chose to ignore that they found evidence of German .77mm artillery batteries just a few yards behind the spot where they say York fought. Alvin York was never ever close to any artillery. Mastriano chose not to mention this in his report and as a result, the rest of his paper has to be treated with suspicion.
10. The Sergeant York Project Team will be able to demonstrate to any authority the professional and academic approach they used in their project. Their application to a strict code of methodology is apparent in Dr. Nolan's paper. This was a shining example of how Science, Archaeology and history can be combined in battlefield studies.
So where does this leave the York Project?
It is felt that this is an issue that should be decided upon within scholarly circles. The differences in locations as given by both teams are not vast in geographical circles but they are important from a military aspect. It is hoped that this still may take place.
Their research methodology was exciting and their findings compelling; based upon sound scientific principles, and using American historical documents that the other team chose to ignore. The results of their work and the paper that formed Dr. Nolan's dissertation paper is available on-line for all to see and from this the serious student may form his own opinion.
If you have a point to make, please append your blog on one of the following links:
What do the York Project Team hope to achieve?
There has been an injustice committed in that the S.Y.D.E. led by Lt. Colonel Mastriano have many inaccuracies and blemishes in their findings. To let it lie as it currently stands is against all the ethics that are inherrent within the sciences of Geography and Archaeology and is a distortion of history. We do not expect an expensive memorial to be relocated, we only ask that our case and the SYDE paper is studied and reported on based upon its merits by a recognized authority. This is the fair and just way and is owed to historians, archaeologists, and geographers, both present and future and to those interested in important military matters.
Please let your feelings be known and append your blog comments on the links above:
Add to your Favorites