Desmond Doss

Corporal Desmond Thomas Doss, Medal of Honor Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, United States Army 7 February 1919 – 23 March 2006

Desmond Thomas Doss became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. A Seventh-day Adventist who refused to carry a weapon or take a human life, he nevertheless believed he had a duty to serve his country. He preferred the description “conscientious cooperator,” volunteering to face the dangers of battle as a medic. His courage would earn him the trust of soldiers who had initially questioned whether an unarmed man belonged alongside them. National WWII Museum

Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on 7 February 1919, Doss worked in the lumber industry before becoming a shipyard joiner at Newport News. Although his employment offered the possibility of a deferment, he entered the Army on 1 April 1942. That August, he married Dorothy Pauline Schutte. His religious convictions, including his observance of Saturday as the Sabbath, brought ridicule and pressure during military training. He remained determined to serve without compromising his faith. Library of Virginia

Assigned to the 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, Doss served in the Pacific campaigns on Guam, Leyte and Okinawa. His willingness to enter exposed positions to treat and recover wounded soldiers established his reputation under fire. He received two Bronze Star Medals during his service, as well as three Purple Hearts for wounds sustained in action. These decorations accompanied a record of battlefield service performed without carrying a gun. Desmond Doss Council

His Medal of Honor recognised a succession of extraordinary actions on Okinawa between 29 April and 21 May 1945. When Japanese fire forced American troops back from the Maeda Escarpment, now widely known as Hacksaw Ridge, Doss remained with the wounded. He carried casualties to the cliff edge and lowered them to safety using a rope-supported litter. He is commonly credited with saving approximately 75 men, although the precise number was never established. Medal of Honor citation, Library of Virginia

The citation describes much more than the celebrated cliff rescue. On 2 May, Doss recovered a wounded soldier 200 yards beyond the American lines. Two days later, he approached an enemy-held cave to treat four casualties, then made separate journeys under fire to evacuate them. On 5 May, he treated an artillery officer amid shellfire and subsequently carried another wounded man away from an enemy position. Congressional Medal of Honor Society

On 21 May, grenade fragments seriously wounded his legs. He treated himself and waited for assistance rather than expose another medic. During evacuation, he surrendered his litter to a more seriously wounded soldier. Then enemy fire shattered his arm. Using a rifle stock as a splint, he crawled approximately 300 yards to an aid station. Medal of Honor citation

President Harry S. Truman presented Doss with the Medal of Honor at the White House on 12 October 1945. He had been a private first class during the cited actions and subsequently attained the rank of corporal. Congressional Medal of Honor Society

The war left lasting physical consequences. Doss spent years recovering from his wounds and tuberculosis, losing a lung and five ribs. He settled in Georgia with Dorothy and their son and remained active in his church and youth work. After Dorothy’s death in 1991, he married Frances May Duman in 1993. He died on 23 March 2006, aged 87, and was buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery, Tennessee. Library of Virginia

Like the Reverend Theodore Hardy, Doss demonstrated exceptional courage through his determination to save wounded men. Hardy served as a chaplain and Doss as a combat medic, but both repeatedly entered places where others could scarcely survive. Doss’s refusal to kill was accompanied by an equally firm refusal to abandon those whose lives depended on him.