Military Gallery

In the Footsteps of Sergeant York uses
modern-day science to rediscover an important historic event

Sergeant Alvin York, a native of Fentress County, Tennessee, was one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War I. The focus of the new exhibit, In the Footsteps of Sergeant York, is on York’s battlefield experience as part of the American Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918.  The exhibit is free to the public and will be on view through May 23, 2013.

Between 2006 and 2009, three expeditions were conducted to Chatel-Chehery and the Meuse-Argonne battlefield where York fought.  During those expeditions empirical data and artifacts were collected to determine the location where York’s Medal of Honor exploits took place.  The exhibit will make use of these discoveries, along with collection pieces from the Museum of the American Military Experience, GIS/GPS equipment used during the expeditions, archival images and short documentary clips of York, the Western Front, the Meuse-Argonne, to lead audiences through the process of how this important place, once thought lost, was rediscovered.