Colegiul Mihai Viteazul Ineu

Lucrare de Atestat la Limba Engleză

Desmond Doss
myth or reality

(1919 – 2006)

Profesor coordonator Candidat

Cleopatra Ardelean Alexia Petrușea
 INEU, 2020

Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Chapter I. Childhood & early life.......................................................................................................4
Chapter II. The army...........................................................................................................................5
Chapter III. Awards & Achievements................................................................................................7
Chapter IV. Family, Personal Life & Legacy.....................................................................................9
Chapter V. Post-war life....................................................................................................................10
Chapter VI. ‘ Hacksaw Ridge’ vs the true story..............................................................................11
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................21
References...........................................................................................................................................22

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 Introduction
My paper is entitled ‘ Desmod Doss myth or reality’ and consists of 7 parts.

I chose to write about Desmond Doss because I was impressed about his story. In my opinion
Desmond was and will always be a hero. What I like most about him is that he never gave up
his beliefs, no matter what and the fact that he never stop believing in God praying whenever
he had the chance, even when saving the injured: “Please, Lord, help me get one more.” My
history teacher recommended me the movie “Hacksaw Ridge”. After I’ve seen the movie I
was curious to find more about him as I was told that the movie is based on a person that has
actually existed. I wanted to know what parts of the movie are true and which are fiction and
that’s how my research begun. I decided to write my final paper about him because I think
that more people need know about him and his story.

He decided to go to war without carrying a weapon. I wanted to know why he had taken this
decision so I started my documentation with his childhood and early life. Desmond was raised
as a Seventh-day Adventist and against violence. His father had a big problem with anger as
he could barely control it. His mother gave him his father’s revolver to hide it, and according
to Desmond, that was the last time he held a weapon. Even though he was working, which
gave him the option not to join the war, he volunteered to join the army because he wanted to
help the injured soldiers in the war.

His beliefs made it difficult for him to be there. Doss was bullied by his comrades and
superiors who tried to make him quit. He was almost court-martialed for refusing direct orders
from his superiors, but he didn’t gave up. Even if he was so badly treated he didn’t refuse to
save his comrades when they were injured on the battlefield. The day he saved 75 lives on the
Hacksaw Ridge was his Sabbath day, the day on which he was not supposed to work as per
his religious beliefs, but he continued saving the injured, saving the life of his bullies.

Desmond Doss was awarded several medals and while awarding him the ‘Medal of Honor’ on
October 12, 1945, President Harry Truman said, ‘I consider this to be a greater honor than
being the President of the United States of America.’ He was married to Dorothy Pauline
Schutte until her death in 1991 due to a car accident in which she was involved. In 1993 Doss
married Frances May Duman. Desmond was badly injured in the war, which left him unable
to work. Unfortunately, in 1946 Doss was diagnosed with tuberculosis which led to even
more problems. Desmond Doss died on March 23, 2006.

In the last part of my final paper I decided to make a comparion between the movie and the
true story of Desmond Doss. For example Dorothy wasn’t a nurse when Doss met her and
they married before going on active duty, which means he didn’t miss his wedding
day.Another example is the movie's early antagonist, Smitty (portrayed by Luke Bracey),
appears to be a fictional composite of some of Desmond’s tormentors.

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 Chapter I. Childhood & early life
Desmond T. Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Thomas Doss (1893–
1989), a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Doss (1899–1983), a homemaker and shoe factory
worker. His mother raised him as a devout Seventh-day Adventist and instilled Sabbath-
keeping, nonviolence, and a vegetarian lifestyle in his upbringing. He grew up in the Fairview
Heights area of Lynchburg, Virginia, alongside his older sister Audrey and younger brother
Harold. 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.
He hated weapons from his childhood. According to him, the last time he held a weapon was
when his mother asked him to hide his father’s 0.45 caliber revolver. His mother feared that
his father might kill his uncle as he hardly had control over his anger. As a child, he was very
compassionate and helpful. He once walked six miles to donate blood to an accident victim
after learning about the accident from a local radio station. He was resilient and relentless
right from his childhood. He spent his childhood flattening pennies on railway tracks and
wrestling with his brother. His brother Harold did not want to wrestle with him because
Desmond did not know when to give up. According to Harold, he would keep on wrestling
without surrendering.
In March 1941, he started working as a ship joiner at Newport News shipyard in Virginia. In
1942, when the United States entered the ‘Second World War,’ he volunteered to join the ‘US
Army’ despite being given an option of deferment because of his work in the shipyard.

Desmond Doss joined the Army as

a combat medic because he believed in the cause of World War II. But as a Seventh-day
Adventist, he had also vowed not
to kill. Department of Defense/National Archives

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 Chapter II. The army
He joined the ‘US Army’ on April 1, 1942, in Virginia. He was sent to Fort Jackson in South
Carolina to train with the ‘77th Infantry Division’ which had been reactivated following the
outbreak of the war. He later said that he wanted to help those who were fighting for the
country even though his religious beliefs did not allow him to bear weapons. He preferred to
call himself a ‘conscientious cooperator’ instead of ‘conscientious objector.’

Due to his staunch belief in the Biblical idea of ‘Thou shalt not kill’ and his belief in
observing the Sabbath, he came into conflict with his superiors in the Army right from his
training days. He was often bullied and insulted for his religious views in his Army unit.
Though he wanted to become a combat medical soldier, he was assigned to a rifle company
because his superiors wanted him to quit the Army. He was almost court-martialed for
refusing a direct order to carry a rifle. There was also an attempt made to file a ‘Section 8’
charge against him so that he could be discharged from the Army on mental health grounds.
However, he survived these attempts and continued his training.

He endured the bullying and the insults from his fellow soldiers during the training and kept
on appealing the decision of his superiors. He often requested his superiors to allow him to
train as a combat medic. Eventually, his superiors decided to train him as a combat medic and
exempted him from duty on Saturdays.

After completing his training, he was assigned to the 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry
Division, of the ‘US Army’ as a combat medic. His division was assigned to serve on the
‘Eastern Front’ in Asia to fight the Japanese.

He was recognized as a fearless combat medical soldier who did not care for his life while
tending to the injured on the battlefield. He earned a reputation of going fearlessly into the
battlefield to help and evacuate his injured comrades without bothering much about the flying
bullets or exploding shells around him. While serving with his unit in the Philippines and
Guam, in 1944, he was awarded a couple of ‘Bronze Star Medals’ with a ‘V’ device for his
heroic service and meritorious achievement in the battlefield.

In May 1945, he participated with his platoon in the ‘Battle of Okinawa.’ A part of his
division was ordered to capture Maeda Escarpment, a steep plateau slope called ‘Hacksaw
Ridge’ by the American soldiers. His platoon was part of the assault force that was deployed
to secure Hacksaw Ridge.

On May 5, 1945, his division helped soldiers trying to climb up the plateau. The Japanese, on
the other hand, adopted the strategy of offering minimum resistance until the American
soldiers climbed up the plateau. When all the American soldiers of the assault division
successfully climbed up the Hacksaw Ridge plateau, the Japanese launched a counterattack in
which the Americans suffered many casualties.

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Desmond Doss was part of the assault force on Hacksaw Ridge. He had climbed up the
plateau with the assault force and was taken aback by the Japanese counterattack. Showing no
regard to his own safety, he tended to the injured American soldiers on the ridge and single-
handedly lowered each and every injured soldier from the plateau. He refused to leave behind
even a single soldier, although his own life was at risk. He worked continuously for 12 hours
amidst heavy gunfire, exploding artillery shells, and hand-to-hand combat to save as many
soldiers as he could. In the end, he managed to bring back all the injured soldiers to safety.
Miraculously, he did not suffer any serious injury and was the last man off the plateau. The
Americans were eventually able to capture Hacksaw Ridge after the initial failure.

Two weeks after the incident, he was part of a night assault conducted by his division a few
kilometers away from Hacksaw Ridge. He was treating injured soldiers in a foxhole when a
grenade landed near his feet. He tried to kick the grenade away but it exploded, leading to
severe shrapnel injuries all over his legs. Without worrying much about his injuries, he
continued to tend to the injured soldiers. While he was treating the injured soldiers, a sniper
shot him on his left arm. Despite being left with broken bones on his left arm, he crawled 300
yards to reach the aid station to ask the other platoon’s help in evacuating his patients. After
five hours, a team arrived to rescue him from the foxhole but he refused to leave before the
evacuation of the injured soldiers.

While he was recovering at the hospital, his name was recommended for the ‘Medal of
Honor,’ the highest US gallantry award. His commanding officer visited him in the hospital to
break the news to him when the award was confirmed. He had finally earned the respect and
admiration of his colleagues and superiors by proving that his religious beliefs and military
service could co-exist. While awarding him the ‘Medal of Honor’ on October 12, 1945,
President Harry Truman said, ‘I consider this to be a greater honor than being the President of
the United States of America.’ After the war, he settled down with his wife and son in Rising
Fawn, Georgia, and later moved to Piedmont, Alabama, along with his family. He was
diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1946, which resulted in the removal of one of his lungs. He
lost his hearing due to an antibiotic overdose in 1976, but regained it after a cochlear implant
in 1988.

During the battle, Doss (seen here at the top of Hacksaw Ridge)
dragged severely injured men to the edge of the ridge and lowered them down to other medics
below. Courtesy of the Desmond Doss Council

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 Chapter III. Awards & Achievements
For his services and gallantry, he was honored with several awards, including ‘Congressional
Medal of Honor,’ ‘Purple Heart’ with two Oak leaf Clusters, ‘Bronze Star Medal’ with an
Oak leaf Cluster and V Device, ‘Combat Medical Badge,’ ‘Army Good Conduct Medal,’
‘American Campaign Medal,’ ‘Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal’ with arrowhead device and
three bronze stars, ‘Philippine Liberation Medal’ with one bronze service star, and ‘World
War II Victory Medal.’

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Private First Class, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th
Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, April 29, 1945 – May 21, 1945.
Entered service at: Lynchburg, Virginia
Birth: Lynchburg, Virginia
G.O. No.: 97, November 1, 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

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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.

October 12, 1945

THE WHITE HOUSE

Corporal Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from

President Harry S. Truman on October 12, 1945

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 Chapter IV. Family, Personal Life &
Legacy
Desmond Doss married Dorothy Pauline Schutte on August 17, 1942, just before leaving for
his Army training. They had one son, Desmond ‘Tommy’ Doss Jr., born in 1946. His wife,
Dorothy Doss, died in a car accident in 1991. Thereafter, he married Frances May Duman, in
1993.

In 2016, actor and director Mel Gibson made a film titled ‘Hacksaw Ridge,’ which was based
on his life.

He proved that his religious beliefs could go hand in hand with his military service.
Interestingly, he believed that God saved him at Hacksaw Ridge. According to him, the guns
of Japanese soldiers stopped working miraculously whenever they took aim at him on the
Hacksaw Ridge. May 5, 1945, the day he saved 75 lives on the Hacksaw Ridge was Sabbath.
It was also the day on which he was not supposed to work as per his religious beliefs.

He lost his Bible on the battlefield during the night raid when he was severely injured. After
the battle, his platoon searched and found it. His commanding officer gave his Bible back to
him when he was recovering in the hospital after the war.

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 Chapter V. Post-war life
After the war, Doss initially planned to continue his career in carpentry, but extensive damage
to his left arm made him unable to do so.  In 1946, Doss was diagnosed with tuberculosis,
which he had contracted on Leyte. 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.
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. Despite the severity of his injuries,
Doss managed to raise a family on a small farm in Rising Fawn, Georgia.
After being hospitalized for difficulty breathing, Doss died on March 23, 2006, at his home
in Piedmont, Alabama. He was buried on April 3, 2006, in the National
Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Frances died three years later on February 3, 2009, at
the Piedmont Health Care Center in Piedmont, Alabama.

Desmond Doss grave

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 Chapter VI. ‘ Hacksaw Ridge’ vs the
true story
When did Desmond Doss join the U.S. Army?
In researching the Hacksaw Ridge true story, we learned that Desmond Doss was drafted into
the United States army in April 1942. He could have gotten a deferment because he worked as
a ship joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, but he wanted to serve his country.
Electing not to bear arms, he made his way into the army medical corps. During March 1944,
he shipped out along with the rest of the 77th Division (the Statue of Liberty Division) for the
Pacific Theater, first to Guam, then to Leyte in the Philippines, and finally to partake in the
allied invasion of Okinawa, an island 340 miles south of mainland Japan (only the latter is
chronicled in the movie). "I felt like it was an honor to serve God and country," Desmond
said. "We were fightin' for our religious liberty and freedom." -The Conscientious Objector
Documentary
Why did Desmond T. Doss refuse to bear arms during WWII?
Fact-checking Hacksaw Ridge confirmed that he refused to carry a weapon because of his
personal and religious beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist, which is part of the Protestant sect
of Christianity. "My dad bought this Ten Commandments and Lord's Prayer illustrated on a
nice frame, and I had looked at that picture of the Sixth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill.'
There's a picture that had Cain and he killed his brother Abel, and I wonder how in the world
could a brother do such a thing? I've pictured Christ for savin' life, I wanna be like Christ go
savin' life instead of takin' life and that's the reason I take up medicine."
A defining moment in Desmond's life that perhaps helped to further shape his attitude toward
guns and violence happened when he was a boy. His father and uncle were drunk and got into
a fight (the movie implies the fight was between Desmond's father and mother). His father
pulled a gun on his uncle but his mother stepped in. She called the police and told Desmond to
hide the gun. After doing so, young Desmond returned just in time to see his father being
loaded into a black police wagon in handcuffs. Desmond believed that his father would've
killed his uncle (his mother's brother) if his mother hadn't stepped in. Desmond vowed that
would be the last time he ever touched a gun. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary
Did Desmond Doss always have a desire to help others, even before joining
the army?
Yes. "He was always helpful to people," said his brother Harold, who was his best friend
when they were boys. "He was not one that would give up. He didn't know how." The Great
Depression left their father, a carpenter, despondent and turning to alcohol at times (though
the movie greatly exaggerates this and makes him abusive). Instead, Desmond took after his
mother, Bertha Doss, who taught him about compassion, helping others, and the importance
of following Christ. His sister Audrey recalled a time when they were young and Desmond
went the extra mile to help victims of an accident.
"Anyone sick he'd be there," said his sister. "It was announced on the radio, we didn't have

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TVs in those days, it was announced there was an accident on Route 29 and they needed some
blood right away to save this woman's life. He walked three miles to that hospital and walked
three more miles back home after he gave blood. Two days later, a call came back over the
radio, they need more blood. There he goes again, walks the three miles, then walks three
miles back." In the movie, Desmond is motivated to give blood in order to get to know
Dorothy, who works as a nurse, but in real life he met Dorothy Schutte at church. -The
Conscientious Objector Documentary
Was Dorothy really a nurse?
Dorothy Schutte was not a nurse when she met Desmond. She didn't get her nursing degree
until years later, after the war, when she needed to help support their family. Desmond's
injuries and disabilities from the war left him unable to have a full-time job. -Hero of
Hacksaw Ridge
When did Desmond Doss and Dorothy Schutte get married?
The Hacksaw Ridge true story reveals that Desmond Doss married Dorothy Schutte on
August 17, 1942, before going on active duty. "The reason I married him [was] because it
seemed I could trust Desmond," says Dorothy. "He was a good Christian and I figured he
would help me go to Heaven. That's what I told my mother. ... He appreciated me because I've
never kissed any other men. He was the first one I ever kissed." Desmond first met Dorothy, a
fellow Seventh-day Adventist, at church in Lynchburg, Virginia when she came through from
Richmond selling Adventist books. The movie changes the timeline of their marriage (he
didn't miss their wedding day because he was denied a pass and then put in a holding cell)

. The real Dorothy Schutte and Desmond Doss (left)

were married on August 17, 1942. Teresa Palmer and Andrew Garfield portray Dorothy and
Desmond in the movie (right).

Did the army really want to send Desmond Doss to a conscientious

objectors camp?
Yes, but he tried to explain to the army that he still wanted to be in the military and do his
part, just without having to kill. For this reason, he told them he wasn't a conscientious
objector but rather a "conscientious cooperator." He believed that the war was justified but
that killing was nevertheless wrong. Like in the Hacksaw Ridge movie, when he told the army
he wanted to be a medic, they replied by telling him they would decide what his position
would be, not him. In the end, he was allowed to remain in the army but with the

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"conscientious objector" classification, a label he did not believe was accurate. -The
Conscientious Objector Documentary
Did fellow soldiers really accuse Desmond of being a coward and pick on
him?
Yes. "He knew he was gonna have difficulty," said his sister Audrey, "because he doesn't use
a gun." He went to South Carolina to join the 77th Division and begin his basic training at
Fort Jackson. The army initially refused his request to be a medic and assigned him to a rifle
company, figuring that peer pressure (and intimidation) might convince him to handle a
weapon. His fellow soldiers regarded him as a pest and thought he was putting on an act.
The Hacksaw Ridge true story confirms that, like in the movie, they ridiculed him and didn't
want to associate with him. "They made fun of me," says Desmond, who always carried a
Bible in his pocket and prayed before bed. They called him "Holy Jesus" and "Holy Joe."
"You know, he'd say his prayers at night and everything, and some guys took their shoes and
threw shoes at him and threw things at him, made fun of him right out in the open," recalled
Ken Lafond, a battalion scout from Tucson, Arizona. "I don't think I could have taken what
that guy did. I don't think I could have taken it, but he hung in there. He hung in there
regardless of what they said or what they did." Contrary to the movie, there seems to be no
record of Desmond ever getting pulled out of bed and beaten in the night. In addition, the
movie's early antagonist, Smitty (portrayed by Luke Bracey), appears to be a fictional
composite of some of Desmond's tormentors.
The Medal of Honor recipient remembers some of the threats. "One fella, he told me, 'I swear
to God Doss, you go into combat, I gonna shoot you.'" After a month of being in the infantry,
the army decided to grant him his wish and transferred him back to the medical corps. -The
Conscientious Objector Documentary

Though Desmond Doss was picked on by

fellow soldiers, the movie's early antagonist, Smitty (Luke Bracey), is a fictional character.
Did Desmond refuse to do any work on Saturdays?
Yes. As a Seventh-day Adventist, he believed in an adherence to the Fourth Commandment,
which says to keep the Sabbath day holy. This meant from sundown Friday until sundown
Saturday, he devoted himself to prayer. Some of his fellow soldiers thought it was a
convenient way to get out of doing any work. Desmond's captain in the medical corps,

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Captain Solomon Statman, threatened to court-martial him if he kept asking for a pass to go to
church on Saturdays. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary
Did Jack Glover try to get Desmond transferred out of his battalion?
Yes. "I went to my battalion commander, Colonel Gerald Cooney," recalled the real Jack
Glover (portrayed by Sam Worthington in the movie), "and I suggested that, in my opinion,
Doss should be transferred." It should be noted that after later fighting alongside Desmond,
Jack Glover's opinion of him changed entirely. "He was one of the bravest persons alive, and
then to have him end up saving my life was the irony of the whole thing." -The Conscientious
Objector

Captain Jack Glover didn't just want

Desmond transferred out of his battalion, he wanted him out of the army.
Did Desmond's officers convene a hearing to have him discharged?
Yes, as his officers grew less tolerant of his refusal to bear arms or work on Saturdays, they
convened a meeting to discharge him on a Section 8 for mental instability. Sergeant Howell,
portrayed by Vince Vaughn in the movie, came to Desmond's tent and told him to turn in his
aid kits, that he was no longer a medic. Colonel Gerald Cooney was pressured into holding
the hearing and Desmond was called to answer the mental instability charge. "I told him, 'Sir,
I cannot accept no Section 8 off my religion.' To me, I feel I'd be a very poor Christian to
accept a Section 8 off my religion." Desmond told Colonel Cooney he would be just as good
of a soldier as him. The officers relented and knew Washington would never approve a
Section 8 solely on religious grounds. -Conscientious Objector Documentary

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 Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) was a real soldier
who pushed for Desmond's discharge and told him to hand in his aid kit prior to the Section 8
hearing, implying Desmond was done as a medic

Did an officer threaten to court-martial Desmond for not touching a rifle?

Yes, but things didn't escalate as far as they do in the movie. While training in the U.S., an
officer by the name of Capt. Cunningham got into an argument with Desmond and told him
only those men who participated in rifle training were allowed passes to go into town. After
Desmond told him that he didn't have to touch a weapon and that it was stated in his file, the
captain tried to humiliate him by forcing a rifle into his hands in front of the men. The captain
told him to take the rifle or he would be court-martialed, but Desmond let it fall to the ground.
As Cunningham started telling him that he was court-martialing him, another officer stepped
in and told Cunningham to back off and respect what was written right there in his record.
Cunningham relented and gave Desmond the pass, but it didn't stop him from continuing to
make Desmond's life a living hell. In the movie, no other officer steps in to stop Cunningham,
and the altercation leads to Desmond being put in a holding cell before the hearing.
In real life, Cunningham later denied Desmond passes to see his wife and denied him a two-
week furlough to see his brother Harold, who was on his last furlough before heading
overseas with the Navy. Desmond was crushed that he likely wouldn't be able to see Harold
before he shipped out. The movie instead has Desmond (Andrew Garfield) despondent after
he is forced to miss his own wedding, a scenario that is fiction (he was already married by
then). -The Conscientious Objector
Did Desmond's father contact his own former commanding officer to help
prevent Desmond from being court-martialed?
No. In the movie, Desmond's father, Tom Doss (Hugo Weaving), contacts his former
commanding officer who writes a letter that stops Desmond from being court-martialed (a
scenario that never happened in real life). According to the true story, when Desmond was
denied leave for refusing to touch a gun, his father contacted the chairman of the church's War
Service Commission in Washington, Carlyle B. Haynes. The chairman made a call to the
regimental commander, Colonel Stephen S. Hamilton, asking if it was necessary for him to
come investigate the situation with Desmond Doss. The colonel told him no and that they
would straighten things out. Desmond still had to wait for his furlough, but as a result of his

15
father's actions, he was given a 3-day pass to go home and see his brother Harold before he
returned to the Navy to go overseas. -Hero of Hacksaw Ridge
Did Desmond really get to see Dorothy before shipping out for WWII's
Pacific Theater?
Yes. "When the train pulled out, I waved goodbye to her, and I tell you, it leaves you a very
low feeling, knowing you may have seen your wife for the last time," recalled Desmond. "I
tell ya it's hard to keep from cryin', but I try not to cry because we want to be brave to
encourage each other. But the tears came though after the train pulled out." The train went
right past Desmond's boyhood home. His father stood looking for Desmond but their eyes
never met. Desmond threw a brick with a note wrapped around it, hoping his father would see
it. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary

Actors Teresa Palmer and Andrew

Garfield convey the love between Dorothy and Desmond (left). The real Dorothy and
Desmond kiss after the Medal of Honor ceremony in October 1945 (right).
Did Desmond treat an enemy soldier while he was out looking for his own
men?
It seems likely that this is true, at least according to the stories told by some of his comrades
who found an American bandage on an enemy soldier. "I don't know how bad the man was
hit," said a fellow soldier, "but there was one found with a bandage on his arm, an American
bandage." During an interview, Desmond recalled an instance where he tried to help a
wounded Japanese soldier. "The fellas pulled a gun on me. They used some strong language.
'If you use that stuff on blankety-blank, we'll kill you!' And I knew they meant it. So I knew
better than to try to take care of a Japanese." We found no evidence that Desmond lowered
wounded Japanese soldiers down the cliffside like in the movie. However, Desmond did have
a willingness to help anyone who was injured. He often went out in the darkness looking for
fallen comrades to bring to safety. His heroics didn't go unnoticed, as fellow soldiers were
often amazed he was still alive. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary
Why did the U.S. invade Okinawa?
A fact-check of the Hacksaw Ridge movie supports that the United States invaded the island
of Okinawa in order to use the island as an air base for an invasion of mainland Japan, which

16
is only 340 miles away. Japanese forces were deeply entrenched on the island, hammering
American troops from caves and tunnels, in addition to setting booby traps. Private Desmond
Doss and his battalion were ordered to ascend a jagged 350-foot escarpment called the Maeda
Escarpment, which was heavily fortified with Japanese defenders. -Medal of Honor: Oral
Histories
How dangerous was the Maeda Escarpment, a.k.a. Hacksaw Ridge?
Okinawa's Maeda Escarpment is an approximately 350-foot high ridge that runs across most
of the island of Okinawa. "The Japanese had been there for years," said the real Desmond
Doss. "They had that mountain honeycombed and camouflaged, it looked like natural terrain.
That's what we had to face." The Japanese were hiding everywhere, in caves, tunnels, holes
and pillboxes, ready to cut down any enemies who approached. The escarpment was so
deadly it was dubbed "Hacksaw Ridge."
U.S. soldiers who were involved in the battle to take the ridge recall stacking the bodies of
fallen Americans as high as they could reach and wading through 200 yards of mud puddles
that were saturated with blood. The machine gun fire was sometimes so thick that men would
be cut in half. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary
Did they really use cargo nets to ascend the ridge?
Yes, and medic Desmond Doss was one of the three men who volunteered to go up the ridge
and hang the cargo nets (something not shown in the movie). They were the same cargo nets
that the men had used to climb down from the army personnel carriers into the landing crafts
that took them ashore. In the photo below, Desmond is seen standing on top of the ridge. The
photo doesn't convey the sheer danger he was in up there. The photographer refused to get
any closer for fear he would be hit by Japanese fire. -The Conscientious Objector

Documentar y The real Desmond Doss stands on the edge of a cliff at

the top of the Maeda Escarpment as his comrades ascend a cargo net (left). The height of the
cliff in question was exaggerated for the Hacksaw Ridge movie (right).
Was Desmond ever forced to choose between killing to protect his men or
standing by his convictions?
Yes. As we explored the Hacksaw Ridge true story, we learned that while trying to get some
sleep near the bottom of the Maeda Escarpment on Okinawa, Desmond Doss and a fellow
soldier heard the voices of Japanese soldiers coming from a hole that was just below them.
Desmond feared they would be discovered. "Between me and my buddy was these hand
grenades," said Desmond. "All I had to do was just pull the pin and I knew I had some
Japanese." Realizing that taking out the enemy in the hole would protect his men from
17
possible death, he later said that this was the greatest temptation of his life. "I thought of what
I heard before, 'Thou shalt not kill.' God gave life and I didn't want to take life." -The
Conscientious Objector
Were the medics prime targets for the Japanese?
Yes. The Japanese focused on taking out medics in order to demoralize their enemy. "They
preferred to get us above anyone else," Desmond said. "They would let the infantry get by just
to pick off a medic, because if they killed the medics, it broke down the moral of the men."
Like in the movie, the medics removed any identifying symbols. -The Conscientious Objector
Documentary
Did Desmond Doss really stay on the ridge while most of his fellow soldiers
retreated back down?
Yes. Facing heavy mortar, artillery and machine gun fire, the majority of the battalion
retreated back down the Maeda Escarpment, leaving dozens of casualties behind to face death
or capture at the hands of the Japanese. "I had these men up there and I shouldn't leave 'em,"
said Desmond. "They were my buddies, some of the men had families, and they trust me. I
didn't feel like I should value my life above my buddy's, so I decided to stay with them and
take care of as many of them as I could. I didn't know how I was gonna do it." Like in
the Hacksaw Ridge movie, he dragged them to the edge of the cliff and attempted to lower
them down the escarpment. -Medal of Honor: Oral Hist

Desmond Doss (left) spent 12 hours single-handedly rescuing 75 men

from the ridge on Okinawa.
Did Desmond really have to lower the wounded men down the cliff's edge
one by one?

Yes, and he didn't have enough rope to do it, so he had to come up with another way. "I didn't
have enough rope to do the job like it should be done," recalled the real Desmond Doss, "then
the Lord brought to my mind that knot I learned in West Virginia that I'd never seen or heard
of before." Falling back on his experience helping rescue flood victims when he was younger,
Doss fashioned a special sling that enabled him to lower the men one by one to safety. "So I
just kept prayin', 'Lord, please help me get more and more, one more, until there was none
left, and I'm the last one down.'" -Medal of Honor: Oral Histories

Did a Japanese soldier's gun keep jamming when he had Desmond in his
sights?

18
While lowering the men down the ridge, the Japanese had a clear shot at Desmond Doss.
Though it's not depicted in the movie, one Japanese soldier recalled having Desmond in his
sights, but every time he went to fire, his gun jammed. -The Conscientious Objector
Documentary

How many men did Desmond Doss save on the ridge on Okinawa?
Army medic Desmond Doss had found a way to single-handedly rescue roughly 75 of his
wounded comrades while under heavy mortar and gunfire. Doss estimated the number of lives
he saved to be 50, but his commanding officer wanted to credit him with saving 100 lives, so
they compromised at 75 (Library of Virginia). It was for this feat that President Truman
awarded Doss the Medal of Honor on October 12, 1945. "When my time came, I went up,"
said Doss of the ceremony. "President Truman, he came out and he stepped over the line, he
caught me by my hands, shook my hand like I was an old-time friend, somebody he had
known all his life. He didn't even give me a chance to get nervous" (Medal of Honor: Oral
Histories).

How close did Desmond Doss come to being killed or wounded while
rescuing 75 of his fellow soldiers?

The real Desmond Doss considers it a miracle that he made it off the ridge on Okinawa.
"When you have explosions and bursts so close you can practically feel it, and not get
wounded up there when I should have been killed a number of times. I know who I owe my
life to as well as my men. That's why I like to tell this story to the glory of God, because I
know from the human standpoint, I should not be here." The true story reveals that he spent
12 hours up on the ridge rescuing the men, averaging one man every 10 minutes. -Medal of
Honor: Oral Histories

Did they put the final assault to take the ridge on hold while Desmond read
his Bible?

Yes. The final assault to take the Maeda Escarpment happened on the morning of May 5,
1945, a Saturday, the day of Sabbath, which the Fourth Commandment says should be
devoted to prayer. Given that Desmond was the only medic left in B Company, he agreed to
go but requested that he first be given time to read his Bible. The delay was approved up the
chain of command and the assault was put on hold until Desmond finished his devotions. That
day, the 307th Infantry Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division overtook Hacksaw Ridge for
good. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary
Did Desmond T. Doss nearly get blown up by a hand grenade?
Yes. On the night of May 21, 1945, just a half mile past the escarpment on Okinawa,
Desmond's unit inadvertently walked into a company of Japanese soldiers. The unit engaged
in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy and Desmond scrambled to treat the wounded. "They
begin to throw these hand grenades," recalled Desmond. "I saw it comin'. There was three
other men in the hole with me. They were on the lower side, but I was on the other side

19
lookin' when they threw the thing. I knew there was no way I could get at it. So I just quickly
took my left foot and threw it back to where I thought the grenade might be, and throw my
head and helmet to the ground. And not more than half a second later, I felt like I was sailin'
through the air. I was seein' stars I wasn't supposed to be seein', and I knew my legs and body
were blown up." The blast left 17 pieces of shrapnel embedded in Desmond's body, mostly in
his legs. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary
Did the real Desmond Doss get shot by a Japanese sniper?
Yes. Director Mel Gibson decided to leave this out of the movie because he felt audiences
would find the heroic circumstances under which it happened too hard to believe, especially
after Desmond had just taken the blunt of a grenade blast to save his fellow soldiers. After the
grenade left him with 17 pieces of shrapnel stuck in him, Desmond waited for five hours until
fellow soldier Ralph Baker was able to reach him. Baker, along with a few other men, carried
Desmond on a litter (stretcher) through an intense enemy tank attack. As they were carrying
him, he saw a guy on the ground badly wounded. Desmond rolled off the stretcher and
crawled over to patch the man up. Desmond gave up his stretcher to the man, but while
waiting for help to come back, he was wounded again, this time by a sniper's bullet that
shattered his left arm. He fashioned a splint out of a rifle stock and crawled the remaining 300
yards under fire, eventually reaching the safety of an aid station. He was transported to the
hospital ship Mercy. -The Conscientious Objector Documentary

A grenade blast left the real

Desmond Doss (right) with 17 pieces of shrapnel stuck in him. After giving up his litter to
another wounded man, a sniper's bullet shattered his left arm.
Did he lose his Bible when he was wounded?
Yes. In a letter home to his wife Dorothy, written on May 31, 1945, he informed her that
while being treated on the hospital ship Mercy, he realized he had lost his little Bible when he
was wounded. It was the Bible she had given him before he shipped out. He told Dorothy that
he hoped someone had found it and was holding it for him. "That was my main source of
strength all during the war and in the service," Desmond said later, "and then when I lost it, I
was lost." The men of Company B learned that it was missing and risked their lives to find it
for Desmond, which they did. -The Conscientious Objector

20
Why didn't Desmond Doss ever compromise a little and carry a weapon?
"I knew if I ever once compromised, I was gonna be in trouble," said Desmond, "because if
you can compromise once, you can compromise again." -The Conscientious Objector
Documentary

Conclusion
In conclusion, I strongly believe that Desmond Thomas Doss was one of the bravest persons
of Earth. He believed in his cause, never gave up his faith in God, in his beliefs and I admire
him for that. His life wasn’t easy but he went on. Desmond Doss was as brave as a lion and I
really wish that someday I could be like him. If more people like him had existed, the world
would have been a better place. Desmond Doss is my hero, he gave me faith, because I know
that if one person like him had existed, there must be more people like him, we just have to
find them, but must important we should all try to be better. He prayed to God and God didn’t
forget him, He saved his life many times. I believe that his saying will remain in my mind
forever: “Please, Lord, help me get one more.”

21
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