Seargent York and 1903

[Fred G.]

A few years ago, The American Rifleman magazine published a letter written to them by a man who's father had been in Yorks platoon in the Great War. This man's father had been wounded and had been sent to a field hospital for treatment. While there, he was visited by York who was a friend of his. Upon leaving, York asked his friend if he could take the man's rifle with him. Consent was made and York left with it. This was the day before the event in which York earned his reputation against the German machineguns. The rifle was a 1903 Springfield that was one of the several that one or two of the members of Yorks platoon had seen stacked up behind a mess tent one day. The man or men, seeing an oportunity, grabbed a bundle or two of the rifles and beat it back to their platoon. Severlal of the men in the platoon exchanged their 1917 Enfields for the 1903 Springfields at that time. York, who'd kept his 1917, had over a time begun to desire a 1903 for himself as he observed the several being used by the men who'd exchanged their 1917's for them. The man in the hospital had told his son that until Yorks visit with him in the field hospital, York had retained and used a 1917. He said that he didn't know for certain, but he told his son that he believed that the rifle York used in the event on the following day against the Germans was the very rifle that he let York take with him from the hospital where the man was ordered to remain for a time. My grandfather's best friend, Fred Smith, out of Kansas City, MO, who was an infantryman in WW I, told my grandpa that the men in his unit, who carried 1917's, would upon finding a Springfield lying on the ground, would drop their Enfield and pick up the Springfield every time. That's from the horses mouth. My grandfather, who was a qualified Expert Rifleman with the 1903 Springfield, thought VERY highly of it.
By the way, as per York's personal diary, the serial number of his 1911 Colt that was stolen from him while he was shipping home aboard the transport vessel was No.254648.

Here's a neat picture of my grandpa, James Mett Shippee, in 1917 on the rifle range that he helped build at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, The picture was taken just before Gramps was assigned to and shipped out to the North Sea on the Destroyer, U.S.S. Wadsworth.