It’s not really the right idea, but for Memorial Day, I’m watching Sergeant York (1941) on Youtube.

Gary Cooper won the Oscar for Best Actor.  The film brought in $16 million on a budget of $1.4 million, making it the highest grossing movie of the year.

York’s little brother is sent to the bar to bring him home.

The little brother gets chastised for going into a bar, but nobody mentions that a kid is carrying a large-bore rifle, has poor trigger discipline and points it right at York.

York decides to get his shit together, so wants to earn money to buy some good farm land.  He takes on a job stacking rocks.

I’ve been doing a lot of rock stacking for the creek rehab project.  York is getting 75 cents per day to hump big rocks like that.  I spent more than that in gas and diesel, and it was still grueling.  In today’s money, York would be getting $15 per day.  I’d pay that.

Later on, coming home from the bar, York gets struck by lightning and has a spiritual epiphany.   There is a church nearby, and they were having a rousing service.  York goes in and is born again.

It was a pretty good service.  Enthusiastic singing and stomping.

It was at night, so it may have just been choir practice.  Church can’t be that fun all the time.  There is probably some snake handling at the Sunday service.

When World War I starts, York gets drafted.  He claims conscientious objector status, but is denied.  For some reason, when he is admitted to the Army, the drill sergeants know that he is a conscientious objector, and give him shit for it.

York also gets stick for being an unsophisticated hillbilly, but when he starts shooting like a Finnish sniper, the Army sees his value.

York is a sincere conscientious objector, but his major and captain are broad minded patriot-theologians. York decides to stay in the Army.

With his Appalachian skills, York captured a few hundred Germans.  They seemed eager to surrender and docile in captivity.  Got a bunch of medals and parades, then went home to Tennessee to marry his sweetheart.

York was motivated by the death of his comrades, so it’s kind of a Memorial Day movie.