The SYDE Story

The Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) is a group of military officers, veterans, researchers, historians, friends and family.  The purpose in bringing this group together was clear; find the exact location where then Corporal Alvin C. York earned the Medal of Honor; the location known to SYDE as the "York Spot".  Although SYDE was founded in the spring of 2006, the search for the York spot began years before any artifacts were discovered in the Argonne Forest, France. 


      LTC Doug Mastriano, co-founder of SYDE, historian and chief researcher, has this to say
      about where his York story began: (Doug and his son Josiah, pictured left)
      "I always had an interest in York, largely due to the movie, which I watched with my father
      when I was young.  My interest increased in the early 1990s as I began to study the
      character traits of men like York.  While stationed in Monterey, CA, I had the opportunity to meet with COL Gerald York, a grandson of Alvin York and was further impressed by the legacy of SGT York. 

During my time with the 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart Georgia,(1998-2000) and Maxwell Air Force Base (2000-2002) I endeavored to find out exactly what York accomplished and where.  I immediately discovered that there was no publication in extant that described York’s feat clearly from a military perspective.  Upon receiving orders to Europe in 2002, I determined to find out exactly where York and the Germans he fought were located.

At that same time, my research put me in contact with recently written accounts that sought to undermine and discount what York accomplished. My gut told me that this was merely revisionist historians who seek to taint everything good, honorable and heroic.  But, as a historian, I needed to see if the facts could exonerate York’s story.  This drove me to spend hundreds of hours in the archives seeking the truth.  

The search for the "York Spot" began in the U.S. archives, the archives across Germany and ended in the Argonne Forest, France.  With each new discovery of valuable archival data, we got a step closer to discovering where York fought on 8 October 1918. The field research started on 11 November 2002 (Armistice Day) and began with just me, my wife Rebbie and son Josiah.  It remained a largely family hunt until 2005, when the O’Keefe’s were drawn into the fray."

LTC Doug Mastriano Biography

• Published author on Alvin C. York
• Command Magazine
• Vision Magazine (Canada)
• Brave Hearts Under Red Skies 
• Military History Magazine
• Bill Rudge Newsletter
• Active Duty Army Officer (Lieutenant Colonel)
• Trained strategic and tactical analyst (study enemy operations)
• Trained military theorist and strategist
• Undergraduate degree in European/American History from Eastern University
• Master’s of Arts in Military Operational Arts & Sciences,
• Master’s of Arts in Strategic Intelligence
• Master’s of Arts in Air Operations
• Graduate of the military’s “Jedi Warrior” Advanced Military Studies Program. Only 2% of all US Army officers are selected for this course which focuses on military operations, doctrine, operational art, and theory
• 40+ visits to the Argonne, where my trained tactical and operational eye puts “meat on the bones” of the research.  Walked where York and the important German Officers were on 8 October 1918
• I speak German (eight years of German schooling) and have lived in Germany for seven years
• Wrote the Officer Professional Development Argonne Staff Ride for Headquarters, US Army Europe (USAREUR)
• Created the Boy Scout’s of America Argonne Historic Trail program
• Developing NATO CC Land Argonne Terrain Walk
• Lead professional tours of the Argonne battlefields