Who was Desmond Doss?

A US Army combat medic and conscientious objector (1919 to 2006) who received the Medal of Honor for rescuing wounded soldiers on Okinawa in 1945.

Why did Desmond Doss refuse to carry a weapon?

Because of his faith as a Seventh-day Adventist; he agreed to serve but not to bear arms.

What was Hacksaw Ridge?

The soldiers' name for the Maeda Escarpment on Okinawa, a steep cliff fought over in 1945.

Who gave Doss the Medal of Honor?

President Harry Truman, on 12 October 1945.

Desmond Doss: the unarmed hero of Hacksaw Ridge

Desmond Doss went to war without a weapon. A devout Seventh-day Adventist, he refused to carry a rifle, and many of his fellow soldiers despised him for it. On a cliff on Okinawa in 1945 he saved the lives of dozens of them, and became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor¹.

A man of faith

Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1919¹, Doss was raised a Seventh-day Adventist. When he was called up in 1942 he turned down a deferment and agreed to serve¹, but refused to carry a weapon or train with one, and he was assigned as a combat medic. Some officers tried to have him discharged, and some of his comrades mocked him.

Guam and Leyte

Serving with the 307th Infantry Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division, Doss went into combat on Guam and Leyte in 1944¹, treating wounded men under fire. He received the Bronze Star twice for his courage.

Black and white photograph of a file of American infantrymen walking along a grassy ridge — Company B of the 305th Infantry, part of Doss's 77th Infantry Division, moving out across high ground on Guam in August 1944. US Army photograph. Public domain

Hacksaw Ridge

In the spring of 1945 his division attacked the Maeda Escarpment on² Okinawa, a sheer cliff the soldiers called Hacksaw Ridge. When a Japanese counterattack drove his battalion back, Doss stayed on top of the cliff and, one by one, lowered wounded men to safety with a rope¹. His Medal of Honor citation credits him with saving about 75 men¹.

Two coloured military maps of southern Okinawa with American advance lines and Japanese defensive zones — Southern Okinawa in 1945: at right, XXIV Corps operations from 9 April to 6 May, the period of the 77th Division's fight on the escarpment; at left, Tenth Army operations up to 30 June. US Military Academy atlas maps. Public domain

Wounded

Weeks later Doss was badly wounded by a grenade and then by a sniper³. He gave up his place on a stretcher to another wounded soldier.⁴ On 12 October 1945 President Harry Truman presented him¹ with the Medal of Honor.

Typed Medal of Honor citation for Private First Class Desmond T. Doss with the medal emblem at the top and Truman's signature — Doss's Medal of Honor citation for his actions near Urasoe-Mura on Okinawa, signed by President Harry S. Truman and dated 12 October 1945. Public domain

Legacy

Doss is widely described as the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. He spent years recovering from his wounds and from tuberculosis contracted during the war, and died in 2006. The 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge brought his story to a worldwide audience.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

The National WWII Museum, “Private First Class Desmond Thomas Doss: Medal of Honor” ↩ a b c d e f g
Roy E. Appleman, James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, John Stevens, Okinawa: The Last Battle (United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific) (Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1948). ↩
Booton Herndon, The Unlikeliest Hero: The Story of Desmond T. Doss, Conscientious Objector Who Won His Nation's Highest Military Honor (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1967). ↩
U.S. National Archives, DocsTeach (National Archives at College Park, RG 338), “Citation for PFC Desmond Doss” ↩
Wikipedia, “Desmond Doss”
Wikipedia, “Battle of Okinawa”