The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that the last surviving German machine gun captured by Sgt. Alvin York in World War I has been discovered in the attic of a Massachusetts public library.

…York pulled off one of the great feats of any combat soldier of any time. He single-handedly annihilated a German machine gun battalion on Oct. 8, 1918, killing 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 enemy soldiers. He seized more than 30 machine guns, which had been killing Americans with extreme accuracy and ferocity.

The M1908/15 Maxim light machine gun was one of the German weapons York confiscated in the Argonne Forest battle, making it a highly significant artifact and a priceless war piece.

Since federal firearm laws won’t allow the library to keep the weapon, the gun has been moved to the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee.   York received the Medal of Honor for his action; you can read the citation here.