Hacksaw Ridge

This essay was originally written for the Heroism - the Oggbashan Memorial Event 2025, and includes no sexual references. When thinking about a hero, the most heroic person I could think of was Desmond Doss, who undoubtedly fit the description of Hero.

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The movie Hacksaw Ridge (2016) tells the story of Desmond Doss, the only WWII soldier to receive the Medal of Honor as a conscientious objector. It in turn was based on the documentary The Conscientious Objector which explored the life of Desmond Doss, a US Army medic. The movie stars Andrew Garfield as the main character.

Of the sixteen million men and women in uniform in WWII only 431 received the Medal of Honor. Doss was the only one to do so without killing a single enemy, or even carrying a gun. Most of the movie is focused on the battles at the Maeda Escarpment near Okinowa, an imposing rock face the soldiers called Hacksaw Ridge, although Doss served in combat on the islands of Guam and Leyte, as well as Okinawa. In those other operations he also exhibited extraordinary dedication to his fellow men.

Desmond Thomas Doss was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia as a Seventh Day Adventist. His family was very devout and followed the Ten Commandments personally. As a youth he almost killed his brother while roughhousing and decided that he would devote his life to the Sixth Commandment "Thou shalt not kill." He also took very seriously the Fourth Commandment, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy".

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Doss enlisted in the United States Army to serve as a combat medic. At the time of the attack he was working at the Newport News Navel Shipyard and could have requested a deferment but chose not to do so. He wanted to do more to support his country, and wanted to directly help to save lives. He assumed that his status as a conscientious objector would allow him to not carry a weapon. However, he was placed with a combat unit where he refused to handle a rifle or to train on Saturdays, the sabbath day for Seventh Day Adventist's. His fellow soldiers considered him to be a coward, and considered him to be a liability; his commanding officers tried to have him removed from service.

Although not discussed explicitly in the Hacksaw Ridge film the opinions of his fellow soldiers started changing during combat at the locations leading up to the Maeda Escarpment. The other soldiers learned that he could help to heal the blisters on their march-weary feet. If someone fainted from heat stroke, he was at their side, offering his own canteen. Doss never held a grudge. Even when, as depicted in the film, his squad mates beat him one night to try to get him to quit. With kindness and gentle courtesy, he treated those who had mistreated him. He lived the golden rule, "... do to others what you would have them do to you..." When the cry, "medic" rang out on the battlefield, he never considered his own safety. He repeatedly ran into the heat of battle to treat fallen comrades and to carry them back to safety. All this, while enemy bullets whizzed past and mortar shells exploded around him.

In 1945, Doss's division was tasked with attacking the Maeda Escarpment where the Japanese were defending Okinawa as the last stop against an allied invasion of their homeland. During the first fight Doss saved the life of one of his squad-mates. The next day the Japanese launched a massive counterattack killing that squad-mate and leaving many others wounded. The officers ordered a retreat, but only about a third of the original fighters made it back to the base of the escarpment. Hearing the cries of dying soldiers Doss refused to leave.

Doss rushed back onto the battlefield again and again carrying the wounded to the cliff's edge and belaying them down by rope, each time praying "Dear Lord, please help me save just one more." The arrival of dozens of wounded who had been presumed dead shocked the unit at the base of the escarpment. Due to Doss's determination and unflagging courage he saved at least 75 men before escaping under fire.

In order for Hacksaw Ridge to be a coherent story they changed certain aspects of what really happened. As mentioned previously, the filmmakers ignored the fact that Doss and his unit fought on several other islands before attacking Hacksaw Ridge. They also ended the movie with Doss batting grenades away from his men; that actually happened during a later battle. His efforts in the war ended shortly after he was hit by an enemy grenade. He treated his own wounds and while attempting to reach safety was shot by a sniper. Not yet done being a medic he insisted his litter bearers leave him to carry another man to safety first. The film makers did not include that scene because they felt it was too unrealistic.

On October 12, 1945 President Harry S. Truman shook the hand of Corporal Desmond Thomas Doss during the Medal of Honor ceremony and then held it the entire time his citation was read aloud to those gathered outside the White House. "I'm proud of you," Truman said. "You really deserve this. I consider this a greater honor than being president."

The Medal of Honor was established during the Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. At the one hundredth anniversary in 1962, the other recipients of that award selected Desmond Doss to represent them at a White House ceremony.

I'll write that again, the other living Medal of Honor recipients selected Doss to represent them.

Desmond Doss was a hero among heroes.