By Armita Rohani
Private Desmond Doss—serving in the 2nd Platoon, Company B , 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division, and stationed in Okinawa’s Hacksaw Ridge—walked into one of the bloodiest battles in World War II with no weapon to protect himself, only his Bible and faith for God. Saving nearly 100 men with a maimed leg and shattered arm alone—making him one of the most influential medics in history—Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart for his valor and heroism.
Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1893 to William Thomas Doss and Bertha Edward Doss, Desmond was raised in a religious household; his mother raised him to a life of nonviolence. He grew up in the Fairview Heights area alongside his older sister Audrey and younger brother Harold. When the draft rolled around, Desmond denied his offered exemption of service for his work in the defense industry and enlisted in the Army Medical Corps as a noncombatant; he was sent to Fort Jackson in South Carolina for training with the reactivated 77th Infantry Division.
Boot camp and basic training were far from easy for Doss; because of his religious and ideological beliefs, Desmond was constantly beaten and harassed—even shoes were thrown at him when he prayed. Yet after a week of fighting, Doss was the only medic able to advance with the rest of the platoon onto the Japanese Hacksaw Ridge, facing massive artillery and heavy fire. Although the fight ended in an American loss and every able bodied man remaining abandoned the ridge, Doss remained with the abandoned wounded. He treated the injured and dragged them to the edge of the cliff, lowering them to the American troops at the base; over a span of hours he saved 75 soldiers. With each successful delivery, he said, “Dear God, let me get just one more man.” After he came down by daybreak, Desmond finally received the respect and honor of his fellow men; those who he saved received medical care by battalion surgeons and other medics. At another attempt to retake the ridge, Doss was seriously wounded in the leg by a grenade; instead of waiting for another medic, he treated himself and waited five hours to be rescued. After he was found, however, his unit was attacked again by the Japanese. Desmond gave his stretcher to another injured soldier and made the trek on foot–with his wounded leg. While going back, he was shot by a sniper which completely shattered his arm; he made a splint out of a rifle stock and eventually made it back to the aid station. All of that with a maimed arm, a busted leg, and not a weapon to his name.
In October 1945, Doss returned to the States and had the bullet removed from his arm. Immediately after the surgery, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman, and also received the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He died on March 23, 2006, from a respiratory ailment in his home in Piedmont, Alabama, and was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee.
