Editing Sergeant York (film) (section)

==Plot==
Before America's entry into World War I, Alvin York is a poor, young farmer in rural [[Tennessee]], living with his widowed mother, sister, and younger brother. He spends his time fighting and getting drunk with friends. Alvin's goal is to purchase a piece of farmland, fertile "bottomland". He works hard to acquire the price for the land, and is given an extension by the owner. His sharpshooting skills enable him to raise the money needed, but the owner reneges, making Alvin seek revenge, only for him and his mule to be struck by lightning, prompting him to rejoin [[Christianity|his church]].

When the U.S. enters World War I, Alvin seeks exemption as a [[conscientious objector]], which is denied. He is torn between fighting for his country and the [[Thou shalt not kill|biblical prohibition against killing]]. His sympathetic commanding officer gives him leave to go home and come to a decision. He reconciles his moral conflict after reading the biblical injunction to [[Render unto Caesar|"render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."]]

During the [[Meuse–Argonne offensive]], Alvin's qualms vanish when he sees his friends and comrades being killed as they assault a strong German position. With all of his superiors dead or incapacitated, he takes charge. He infiltrates the German lines by himself and finds a position that [[Enfilade and defilade|enfilades]] the main German defensive trench. He kills so many German soldiers that they eventually surrender to him en masse. After a prisoner of war treacherously throws a grenade that kills Alvin's good friend, "Pusher" Ross, Alvin shoots him dead. He and the handful of survivors from his unit lead their many captives behind their lines, but have a hard time finding anyone to take the Germans off their hands. The officer who finally does is astonished to learn that so few men captured so many of the enemy.

Alvin is decorated and hailed as a national hero, feted in Europe, New York, and Washington DC, but he desires to return home. He rejects commercial offers that would make him wealthy, explaining that he could not take money for doing his duty. He returns home to marry his fiancée, Gracie. To his surprise, the state has purchased the bottomland farm and built a house for Gracie and him.