Desmond Doss

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Desmond Doss

Desmond Thomas Doss (born 7. February 1919 in Lynchburg , Virginia , died on 23. March 2006 in Piedmont , Alabama ) was a veteran of the United States Army . He was the first of only three members of the military forces of the United States (the others were Thomas William Bennett and Joseph Guy LaPointe Jr. ) that the armed service refused, and the Medal of Honor were awarded. Most recently he served as a corporal in a medical unit in the 77th Infantry Division .

Life

Desmond Doss was born on February 7, 1919 to William Thomas Doss, a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Oliver Doss, a simple worker in a shoe factory, in Lynchburg , Virginia . He dropped out of high school after a year and worked in a wood factory. He was raised on Seventh-day Adventist principles by his parents and became a deacon of Park Avenue Seventh Day Adventist Church when he was 21 .

Before he was called up for military service after the United States entered World War II in 1942 , he worked at the Newport News Naval Shipyard . Because of his faith he was offered to be deferred from military service, which he refused because he wanted to serve his country as long as it did not contradict his beliefs. So he asked for a military use that would enable him to obey his faith, because Doss did not want to be equipped with a weapon or shoot at other people due to the commandment "You shall not kill". Therefore he was used as a medic in the 307th Infantry Regiment of the 77th Infantry Division .

He took part in the first fighting during the Battle of Guam . Before that he was often attacked by his comrades because of his belief. In particular, his refusal to carry a weapon was accused of breach of duty. This changed after the first fighting in which his unit was involved, as he saved the lives of many of his comrades. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his services at the Battle of Leyte during the reconquest of the Philippines between November 1944 and February 1945 .

Medal of Honor

Desmond Doss on the Maeda plateau during the Battle of Okinawa

After the Battle of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945, the Doss regiment was embarked there. They first took part in combat operations on April 29. On the first day of the fighting, Doss is credited with rescuing 75 wounded soldiers under Japanese fire. The exact number of soldiers is unclear. His supervisor later stated that he wanted to honor Doss for rescuing over 100 people, but that he only counted 50, and so they finally agreed on 75. His unit had climbed a rock face, and above it was under heavy artillery- and machine gun fire and suffered heavy losses. Doss began picking up the wounded one by one and rappelled them down the cliff to safety.

During the ongoing fighting on Okinawa, he saved more lives and was wounded three times. He suffered his worst injury on May 12, 1945. He was seriously injured in both legs by a grenade. Even so, he refused to call in other paramedics because they were needed more urgently in other places. When he was finally rescued from the battlefield a few hours later, he jumped from the stretcher and instructed the other paramedics to tend more seriously injured soldiers.

For all of his deeds on Okinawa, he was invited to the White House on October 12, 1945 , to be awarded the Medal of Honor by US President Harry S. Truman, along with fourteen other soldiers . He was the first soldier to receive the highest distinction in the United States' armed forces without firing a bullet in war .

Next life

Desmond Doss (left) in March 2000

Just before he left the army in 1946, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis . It took him years to recover from the injuries and hardships suffered in the war. Eventually, one of his lungs and ribs had to be removed. As a late consequence, he lost his hearing in 1976. Together with his wife Dorothy Pauline Schutte, whom he had married before his combat mission, he moved to Georgia. Here the couple lived on a farm with their son. After his story was made known in 1959 through the television production This Is Your Life , innumerable invitations to lectures followed, where he told of his experiences and his faith.

After his wife died in an accident in 1991, he remarried in 1993. His second wife Frances May Duman wrote about his life in 1998 the book Desmond Doss: In God's Care , which was reprinted in 2005 under the title Desmond Doss: Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero .

Desmond Doss died with a family member in Piedmont , Alabama on March 23, 2006 . He was buried with full military honors in Chattanooga National Cemetery , Tennessee.

Honors

Military honors

Further honors

  • From 1951 to 1970, the Medical Cadet Corps held an annual training program in Grand Ledge , Michigan . It was named Camp Desmond T. Doss in his honor .
  • In Walker County , Georgia Highway 2 between US Highway 27 and Georgia Highway 193 was named after him Desmond T. Doss Medal of Honor Highway .
  • The guest house of the Walter Reed Military Hospital in Washington was renamed Doss Memorial Hall in 2008 .
  • A two mile stretch of Alabama Highway 9 in the town of Piedmont, where he died, was renamed Desmond T. Doss, Sr. Memorial Highway in 2008 . Veterans still decorate the street in his honor on Memorial Day .

reception

Movie

literature

  • Frances M. Doss: Desmond Doss: Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero , Pacific Press Publishing Association, Nampa 2005, ISBN 978-0-8163-2124-7
  • Booton Herndon: The Unlikeliest Hero: The Story of Desmond T. Doss , Kendall Hunt Pub Co, Dubuque 2011, ISBN 978-0-7575-6516-8
  • Adam Palmer: The Medic: Miracle on Hacksaw Ridge , CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4928-9856-6
  • Booton Herndon: The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge: The Poignant , True Story That Inspired the Motion Picture , Memento Medien eV, 2016, ISBN 978-3944606040
  • Booton Herndon: Operation Hacksaw Ridge: The Poignant , True Story That Inspired The Motion Picture , Memento Medien eV, 2017, ISBN 978-3944606057

Comic

  • Doug Murray drew a Medal of Honor Special in 1994, which deals with Desmond T. Doss and appeared in Dark Horse Comics .

See also

Web links

Commons : Desmond Doss  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on Desmond Doss www.army.togetherweserved.com, accessed on August 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d Richard Goldstein: "Desmond T. Doss, 87, Heroic War Objector, Dies" at www.nytimes.com, March 25, 2006, accessed August 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Dictionary of Virginia Biography: Desmond Doss www.lva.virginia.gov, accessed August 5, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b "Burial Set April 3 At National Cemetery For Medal Of Honor Winner Desmond Doss" at www.chattanoogan.com from March 26, 2006, accessed on August 5, 2016.
  5. ↑ Background to Desmond Doss ( Memento from June 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) www.history.army.mil
  6. ↑ Background to Desmond Doss on Okinawa in: Roy E. Appleman, James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler and John Stevens: OKINAWA: THE LAST BATTLE. Chapter XI: Assaulting The Second Shuri Defense Ring. In: UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II - The War in the Pacific. CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, UNITED STATES ARMY, WASHINGTON, DC, 2000, p. 281 , accessed June 10, 2016 .
  7. ↑ a b Information on the presentation of the Medal of Honor to Desmond Doss www.homeofheroes.com, accessed on August 5, 2016.
  8. ^ Robert L. Mole, "God also loves military people: a brief story of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the American military chaplaincy, 1860-1976", 1977
  9. ↑ Newspaper note on the renaming to Calhoun Times dated September 1, 2004, accessed on August 5, 2016.
  10. ^ "Army Honors Desmond Doss With Hospital Guest House Naming" at www.adventistreview.org, accessed August 5, 2016.
  11. ↑ Chuck Stinnett: "Medal of Honor recipients honored with highway designation" at www.courierpress.org from August 6, 2014, accessed on August 5, 2016.
  12. ↑ The Conscientious Objector in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  13. ↑ Hacksaw Ridge in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  14. ↑ Information on the Medal of Honor Special www.darkhorse.com, accessed on August 5, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Doss, Desmond
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Doss, Desmond Thomas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American soldier, Medal of Honor holder
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Lynchburg , United States of America
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 2006
Place of death Piedmont , United States of America