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Desmond Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Thomas Doss (1893–1989),[3] a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Doss (née Oliver) (1899–1983),[4] a homemaker and shoe factory worker.[5][6][7] His mother raised him as a devout Seventh-day Adventist and instilled Sabbath-keeping, nonviolence, and a vegetarian lifestyle in his upbringing.[8] He grew up in the Fairview Heights area of Lynchburg, Virginia, alongside his older sister Audrey and younger brother Harold.[7]
Doss attended the Park Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church school until the eighth grade, and subsequently found a job at the Lynchburg Lumber Company to support his family during the Great Depression.[7]
World War II service
Doss on top of the Maeda Escarpment, May 4, 1945
Before the outbreak of World War II, Doss was employed as a joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia.[7] Doss entered military service, despite being offered a deferment for his shipyard work,[9] on April 1, 1942, at Camp Lee, Virginia.[10] He was sent to Fort Jackson in South Carolina for training with the reactivated 77th Infantry Division. Meanwhile, his brother Harold served aboard the USS Lindsey.[11]
Doss refused to kill an enemy soldier or carry a weapon into combat because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist.[12] He consequently became a medic assigned to 2nd Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.
While serving with his platoon in 1944 on Guam and the Philippines, he was awarded two Bronze Star Medals with a "V" device,[13] for exceptional valor in aiding wounded soldiers under fire. During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 50–75 wounded infantrymen atop the area known by the 96th Division as the Maeda Escarpment or Hacksaw Ridge.[14] Doss was wounded four times in Okinawa,[15] and was evacuated on May 21, 1945, aboard the USS Mercy.[16] Doss suffered a left arm fracture from a sniper's bullet and at one point had seventeen pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body.[16] He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Okinawa.
After the war, Doss initially planned to continue his career in carpentry, but extensive damage to his arm left him unable to do so.[7] In 1946, Doss was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which he had contracted on Leyte.[16] He underwent treatment for five and a half years – which cost him a lung and five ribs – before being discharged from the hospital in August 1951 with 90% disability.[17][18]
Doss continued to receive treatment from the military, but after an overdose of antibiotics rendered him completely deaf in 1976, he was given 100% disability; he was able to regain his hearing after receiving a cochlear implant in 1988.[5][16] Despite the severity of his injuries, Doss managed to raise a family on a small farm in Rising Fawn, Georgia.[16]
Doss married Dorothy Pauline Schutte on August 17, 1942, and they had one child, Desmond "Tommy" Doss Jr., born in 1946.[16] Dorothy died on November 17, 1991, from a car accident.[16] Doss remarried on July 1, 1993, to Frances May Duman.[5][1]
Corporal Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman on October 12, 1945
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of The Congress the MEDAL OF HONOR to
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS DESMOND T. DOSS UNITED STATES ARMY
for service as set forth in the following
Citation: Private First Class Desmond T. Doss, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Near Urasoe-Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April – 21 May 1945. He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Private First Class Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them one by one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and two days later he treated four men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within eight yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making four separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small-arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Private First Class Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited five hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Private First Class Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of one arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Private First Class Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.
Desmond Doss (left) at the Georgia State Capitol on March 20, 2000 after being presented a special resolution sponsored by state representative Randy Sauder (right)Doss Hall renaming ceremony
A portion of US Route 501 near Peaks View Park is named "Pfc. Desmond T. Doss Memorial Expressway." Local veterans of the area honor him by decorating the signs marking this portion of road several times during the year, particularly around patriotic holidays.[23]
In 1951, Camp Desmond T. Doss was created in Grand Ledge, Michigan to help train young Seventh-day Adventist men for service in the military. The camp was active throughout the Korean and Vietnam wars before the property was sold in 1988.[24]
In the early 1980s, a school in Lynchburg was renamed Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy. The school was founded by the Lynchburg Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the home church of Desmond Doss during his years in Lynchburg. The church wanted to honor Doss for standing strong in his faith despite facing great adversity.[25] Doss visited the school that bears his name three times before his death.[26]
On March 20, 2000, Doss appeared before the Georgia House of Representatives and was presented a special resolution honoring his heroic accomplishments on behalf of the country.[28]
The feature film Hacksaw Ridge, based on his life, was produced by Terry Benedict and directed by Mel Gibson. The film was released nationwide in the U.S. on November 4, 2016 to positive reviews. Doss is portrayed by Andrew Garfield, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. Desmond's wife, Dorothy, is played by Teresa Palmer.
Doss was profiled in a three part TV series by It Is Written in November 2016.[36]
Print
Doss is the subject of four biographical books:
The Unlikeliest Hero; The Story of Desmond T. Doss, Conscientious Objector Who Won His Nation's Highest Military Honor, 1967 by Booton Herndon[17]
Desmond Doss Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero, 2015 by Francess M Doss[37]
Redemption At Hacksaw Ridge: The Gripping True Story That Inspired The Movie, 2016 by Booton Herndon[38]
The Birth of Hacksaw Ridge: How It All Began, 2017 by Gregory Crosby and Gene Church[39]
Doss has been featured in major publications and media including:
Doss was featured in the Medal of Honor Special comic written by Doug Murray and published by Dark Horse Comics. The comic was a special edition of the series Medal of Honor, published April 1, 1994. The title was sanctioned by the United States Congressional Medal of Honor Society.[44] The issue features Corporal Desmond Doss along with another Medal of Honor recipient, Lieutenant Charles Q. Williams.[45]
^Although the exact number is unknown, estimates range from 50 to 100 since 55 of the 155 soldiers involved in the action were able to retreat without assistance.[2]
^"Desmond T. Doss". HomeOfHeroes.com. Archived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"William Thomas Doss". Geni.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Bertha Edward Doss". Geni.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ abcd"Desmond T. Doss". collegedale-americanlegion.org. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ abcdefg"Hacksaw Ridge (2016)". HistoryvsHollywood.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"The Medal of Honor". desmonddoss.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"History of Desmond Doss". Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^"Medal of Honor Special". Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Further reading
Herndon, Booton (2016). Hero of Hacksaw Ridge: The Gripping True Story That Inspired the Movie. Cold Water, Michigan: Remnant Publications. ISBN978-1-629131-54-2.
Leepson, Marc (2008), "Wonder Man of Okinawa," Military History magazine, September/October 2008, Vol. 25, No. 4.
Herndon, Booton (2004). The Unlikeliest Hero: The Story of Desmond T. Doss, Conscientious Objector Who Won His Nation's Highest Military Honor. Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association. ISBN978-0-8163-2048-6.
United States
United States Army
Army Medical Service
Corporal
B Company, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division
Medal of Honor
Bronze Star Medal (1 OLC & "V")
Purple Heart (2 OLC)
