KANSAS CITY, Mo. - They lead wildly dissimilar lives, yet thanks to a movie they are inextricably linked.
She is the daughter of Hollywood royalty, a resident of the Big Apple and married to a world-class concert pianist.
He is the fifth of 10 children and still works on the Tennessee farm that has been his only home, though his job now entails answering questions from tourists.
Maria Cooper Janis is the sole offspring of actor Gary Cooper. Andrew Jackson York is the son of World War I hero Alvin C. York
Their family sagas have been entwined for more than a half century by "Sergeant York," the celebrated 1941 biopic in which Cooper portrayed Alvin York, winning a best actor Oscar.
Janis, 71, and Andrew Jackson York, 79, have never met. That will change Wednesday when both participate in a special Veterans Day ceremony at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City.
They'll share reminiscences of their famous fathers. Janis will formally present Gary Cooper's Oscar to the museum for display.
They've got lots of catching up to do.
Alvin York never spoke of the combat experiences that earned him a Medal of Honor. At least not to his family.
"He never talked about the war at all," said Andrew Jackson York in a phone call from the Sgt. Alvin C. York Historic Park near Pall Mall, where he's been employed by the Tennessee parks system for nearly 40 years. "We kids read about what he did. We saw the movie. But he never told any of us about it, as far as I know. I doubt he even told my mom."
Yet what Alvin York did was extraordinary.
As a young man, he was a drinker and brawler. But the death of a friend in a barroom fight turned his life around; he joined his mother's pacifist Christian sect and swore off alcohol and violence.
Drafted into the Army, he applied for conscientious objector status. His petition was denied, and after discussing the situation with sympathetic commanding officers, York concluded that some wars needed to be fought.
On Oct. 8, 1918, York's unit was operating behind German lines in France. They had captured an enemy position and were guarding prisoners when they were raked by machine gun fire that killed or disabled half the Americans. Now in charge of the unit, York single-handedly assaulted the German machine gun position, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others.
Returning to Tennessee, the war hero was given a 400-acre farm, where he raised hogs, cattle, corn and wheat. Much of time, his siblings (Alvin had 10 brothers and sisters) worked alongside him.
"He was just like any other dad," his son recalled. "That's what we thought, anyway. But we did have lots of company. Sometimes 25 or 30 people a day. And he'd be gone for a month at a time speaking. Chicago, California, Illinois ... he spoke in every state.
"I went on some of those trips with him in the early '40s to sell war bonds. We'd go to Army camps, and we'd eat in the officers' mess."
Back at home, though, Alvin York was just Dad.
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