What happens when an American soldier enters combat armed with nothing but God and patriotic pride you might ask, and I’m glad you did, because when unarmed Private First-Class Desmond Thomas Doss decided to enter the fray during World War II, he ended up saving 75 to 100 wounded men from a fate of certain death on a faraway battlefield in Okinawa.
Gowing up Doss
Desmond Thomas Doss was born on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to parents William Thomas Doss (1893–1989), a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Doss (1899–1983), a homemaker and shoe factory worker. Growing up in the Fairview Heights area of Lynchburg, Doss had an older sister named Audrey and younger brother named Harold.
Doss’s mother raised the family with a focus in the home around Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, impressing upon all three Doss children a desire to live a nonviolent, Sabbath-keeping lifestyle.
Reinforcing his mother’s teachings, Doss attended the Park Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church school until the eighth grade. Like many of his fellow students, Doss found his education stunted by the Great Depression, forced to support his family through dropping out of school and finding employment with the Lynchburg Lumber Company.
Registering early for the draft, when World War II came, Doss answered the call while working as a joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia. He enlisted despite knowing, by his own admission, that to take a life would violate his deeply held religious beliefs.
Doss knew his views would set him apart in the military, however, he was unprepared for the ridicule and isolation he faced during training—many seeing him as unfit for service because of his “pansy beliefs.” Few were confident the unarmed, tenderhearted medic could navigate the bloody battlefields of war. After all, Doss refused to even carry a weapon! Blessed with the kind of inner strength that comes from certainty of path, Doss simply waited patiently for the opportunity to prove peace does have a place in combat.
Getting his chance
The day came for Doss to fulfill his destiny during the violent Battle of Okinawa in May 1945. Remembered by history as Hacksaw Ridge, American forces found themselves under fire and pushed back against a steep cliff. What unfolded during this desperate situation led to its historical distinction as “one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Pacific War.”
Luckily for our servicemen, Private First-Class Desmond Thomas Doss, serving as a combat medic with Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, was there.
Knowing they had the Americans on the run, the Japanese military unleashed a barrage of gun fire, mortars, and artillery.
Staring down the horror of broken bodies mounting on the blood-soaked soil, Doss refused to flinch. Darting through enemy fire as if bullets mattered no more than mosquitoes, Doss returned time and again, dragging his fellow men bodily from danger.
After treating their injuries, Doss sent the injured on down the line—using rope to carefully lower each soldier down the unforgiving side of the cliff. According to legend, each time Doss braved his own mortality to snatch a wounded American from the jaws of death, he prayed: “Lord, please help me get one more.”
When the dust settled and the sun rose, it was clear Doss had saved the day—one act of selfless mercy at a time.
Legacy
According to his official Medal of Honor citation, Doss saved the lives of roughly 75 wounded soldiers that day.
Following the battle at Hacksaw Ridge, Doss continued to treat wounds despite suffering serious wounds on the battlefield himself as well. During one such harrowing incident, the man of peace suffered wounds from an exploding grenade, even fracturing an arm when a sniper’s bullet found him.
Truly living his beliefs out loud—there is no greater gift than giving up one’s life for another— even when wounded and waiting for evacuation, Doss insisted that fellow wounded soldiers be taken care of before him.
A grateful nation recognized not only his service on October 12, 1945, when President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Medal of Honor, it also recognized the power of Doss’s unwavering and fearless faith. Additionally, his service in Guam, Leyte, and Okinawa, led to his earning two Bronze Stars.
Today Doss’s legacy continues to live on, forever immortalized by Hollywood in its rendition of that day in the 2016 movie Hacksaw Ridge. He was played by Andrew Garfield. In 2004, Doss was the subject of a documentary entitled The Conscientious Objector.
He passed away in Piedmont, Alabama, on March 23, 2006, and now you know all about America’s modest hero: “Ole No Gun” Doss.