Desmond Doss
The Peaceful War Hero
The Medal of Honor is the highest military award that an American citizen can ever receive, meant to commemorate extraordinary acts of heroism and valor on the battlefield. More than 3,000 individuals have received it over the course of the nation’s history. In 1945, one man surprised the world by becoming the first to ever receive the Medal of Honor without taking a single life. That man was Desmond Doss. This is his story.
Desmond Thomas Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1919. He was the son of William and Bertha Doss, a carpenter and a shoe factory worker respectively. William was a hard man prone to drinking and harsh discipline, and his relationship with Desmond was troubled to say the least. Bertha, on the other hand, was a kind soul with a strong religious background. She taught Desmond to never practice violence. His mother’s lessons were reinforced when young Desmond witnessed a fight between his father and uncle that nearly turned deadly. Desmond vowed then and there that he would never harm another soul or even touch a gun.
War came to America in December of 1941 and Desmond was determined to do something. In April of the following year he joined the army. When he was later questioned as to why a self-avowed pacifist would join the war effort, he responded:
“While I believe in the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill,’ and that bearing arms is a sin against God, my belief in freedom is as great as that of anyone else, and I had to help those boys who were fighting for it.”
And so, in August of 1942, Desmond Doss left for Fort Jackson, South Carolina. And while he would go on to face the horrors of World War II in the Pacific Theater, it was at Fort Jackson that he would encounter his first real battles.
Desmond Doss did not consider himself to be a conscientious objector, but rather, as he put it, a “conscientious cooperator.” He had no qualms about serving in the military or saluting the flag. He did however, refuse to carry a gun. It was this decision that turned him, in the eyes of his fellow soldiers and superior officers, into a liability.
Desmond was constantly harassed and ridiculed for his beliefs. His superiors attempted to have him discharged, claiming he suffered from mental instability. His fellow soldiers took a much more physical approach: beating him to a bloody mess in the late hours of the night. They claimed that Desmond was weak and cowardly, unable to be trusted to help on the battlefield.
In that entire time Desmond never ran home, raised a fist, or even spoke a harsh word. This only seemed to anger his abusers more. Yet Desmond never wavered. And Desmond would soon have an opportunity to prove himself worthy of the respect of his peers: the Battle of Okinawa.
True, the Battle of Okinawa was not the first in which Desmond Doss participated. He served as a field medic for the 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, in smaller conflicts in both Guam and the Philippines. It was at Okinawa, however, that Desmond proved himself not only capable, but exemplary.
The Battle of Okinawa, or Operation Iceberg, was one of the largest and most brutal battles of the second world war. After a fierce naval attack, ground forces were deployed at the base of the 400-foot-tall Maeda Escarpment, or Hacksaw Ridge. Over 150 soldiers scaled the hill to face the enemy forces waiting at the top. Fighting lasted for almost a month, and every day there rained down grenades, mortar shells, and small-arms fire. It was in the midst of all this carnage that Desmond Doss, the soldier without a gun, proved himself a hero.
On April 29, 1945, Allied forces were met with such overwhelming resistance that they soon called for a retreat. All of the soldiers who could still run did…except for Desmond Doss. Instead, he ventured onto the battlefield on his own to carry a fallen soldier to safety. He managed to construct a makeshift litter and lower the soldier to the other medics on the ground. Desmond didn’t quit there though; he went back. Desmond Doss walked into an open battlefield under heavy machine gun fire and carried wounded soldiers one-by-one to safety. Every time he lowered a soldier to the other medics he prayed, “Lord, please help me get one more.” In the end, he saved between 50 to 100 men. That was the first day of the battle.
Desmond continued to put his own life on the line in order to save the life of even a single soldier, often getting dangerously close to enemy fighters. At one point he made four separate trips to save a group of fallen soldiers, even though the enemy was throwing grenades from a small cave only eight yards away. Desmond calmly dressed their wounds and carried them away one at a time.
On the night of May 21, Desmond was busy helping some wounded soldiers when a grenade suddenly landed next to him. He attempted to contain the blast and in doing so seriously injured both his legs. He refused to call for help as that would take medics away from the other wounded, and so he dressed his own wounds and waited five hours as the battle raged on around him. When a pair of medics finally did come to carry him to safety, Desmond jumped off the stretcher and demanded they take a more seriously wounded soldier first. After they left, an enemy sniper shot Desmond in the arm. He quickly bandaged himself and then used the broken butt of a nearby rifle to drag himself over 300 yards to the aid station.
Due to the nature of his wounds, Desmond was taken out of active duty. He spent the next six years in military and VA hospitals. He never fully recovered, and was never able to work a full-time job again. He was, however, the first conscientious objector to ever receive the Medal of Honor.
We need more people like Desmond Doss. People who practice peace. That phraseology may sound strange, but it should not be. Peace has been the subject of many fine speeches and the self-avowed goal of many leaders and nations, but it is a concept that we often radically fail to understand. We think of peace as merely the end of conflicts, or rather the brief space in between them. That was not the peace of Desmond Doss.
Desmond Doss practiced what could be called active peace. A type of peace you bring with you, even in the heart of war. A peace that seeks to save lives rather than take them; to make friends rather than enemies. A peace that recognizes that conflict is perhaps inevitable, but also often unnecessary.
Desmond Doss suffered more than most men because of his life of peace. Not once, however, did he ever regret it. He may have suffered, but he saved dozens of lives. He helped defend the freedom and peace in which he so strongly believed. Perhaps greatest of all, he lived a life free of violence and hatred. If only we could all be so brave. If only we all could lead lives marked by peace.
