Ronald Kruk - Hacksaw Ridge: The True Story of Desmond Doss

HACKSAW RIDGE : THE TRUE STORY OF DESMOND DOSS

RONALD KRUK

Steel in the form of bullets and shrapnel rained down upon the men of the United States Army's 307th Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, as they fought their way up the Maeda Escarpment. The escarpment was an intimidating vertical rock face located on the island of Okinawa, Japan, and the soldiers who battled there during World War II affectionately called it Hacksaw Ridge.

During the war, Okinawa was a stepping-stone to mainland Japan, and more than 100,000 Japanese soldiers defended that hunk of igneous rock and uplifted coral that climbed like the Kraken above the surface of the East China Sea. On May 5, 1945, the fatigued and battered soldiers of the 307th Regiment's 1st Battalion hit the 400-foot cliff hard, hoping to shatter the resilience of the Japanese ground troops, who either nested on Hacksaw with machine guns, or moved tactically through caves that wound their way through the entrails of the escarpment, ready to ambush.

To summit the escarpment and win the island from Japan, American troops had to maneuver through a network of booby-trapped explosives, as well as mortar and artillery fire, and dodge an unrelenting barrage of gunfire. Private First Class Eugene B. Sledge of the 1st Marine Division battled the enemy on Okinawa for six weeks and called the island a "ghastly corner of hell", according to World War II magazine.

"Men struggled and fought and bled in an environment so degrading, I believe we had been flung into hell's own cesspool," said Sledge.

During the bloodiest battle on the Pacific, the Japanese owned the day, for the odds were too great for the Americans. The formidable enemy pushed back the men of the 77th, who attempted to ascend the cliff with human ladders or 50-foot wooden ladders, and large cargo nets. Only 48 of the 204 men who began the battle were free of injury. The soldiers who were able, retreated to safety while others lay dead and injured, shot as they climbed the stone face of the ridge, that monolith of loss that looked upon the dead, injured, and scurrying men without mercy.

However, the story of the perilous battle of the 307th did not end here. The heroics continued through a single man, who inspired the depleted American troops of Okinawa, by remaining behind with the wounded. Without protection of any sort, Private Doss, a medic assigned to the unit, looked to the heavens, said a prayer to his god, and ventured back into the shattered dusk, jogging through the rain and crumbling sludge of the muddy island, towards the enemy, to save whomever he could, as other troops in his unit followed the order to flee.

All of the fighting men on Okinawa were well-armed for protection, carrying rifles and grenades, except for Private Desmond Doss, who refused to carry a weapon of any kind on any battleground because he conscientiously objected to killing, even during a time of war.

According to Doss's account in a documentary film titled "The Contentious Objector", as he rescued soldiers one-by-one, he breathed into the air with each go-around, "Lord, please help me get one more."

The modest man of faith claims to have saved 50 wounded soldiers from certain death. His comrades claim that he saved 100. President Harry S. Truman presented him with the Congressional Medal of Honor upon his return to the United States, for his heroics on Okinawa, and the citation credits him with saving 75 lives, splitting the difference.

"From a human standpoint, I shouldn't be here to tell the story," said Doss in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch . "No telling how many times the Lord has spared my life."

During World War II, 16,112,556 American soldiers served their country and the cause of the Allies, and only 43 received the Medal of Honor. Doss, who held a powerful allegiance to Christ, and was a devoted member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, became the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. military's highest honor. Today, he is one of two conscientious objectors to have received it.

PFC Carl Bentley, who served with Doss on Okinawa, said in "The Contentious Objector" that God had his hand on the young medic's shoulder.

"It's the only explanation I can give," said Bentley.

Doss was never short of spirit or conviction. It encompassed his everyday existence.

Early Years

D esmond Doss was born into an unstable America on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to poor parents, his mother Bertha E. (Oliver) Doss, a homemaker, and his father William Thomas Doss, a carpenter. During the year of his birth, worker strikes stole headlines as employees fought for higher wages and safer work environments after two years of World War I wage controls. In addition, race riots were abundant that year because of police neglect, overcrowding in urban areas, and diverse racial populations all fighting for housing, political power, and employment opportunities.

Political tensions were high as well. The anarchist bombers were creating havoc, mailing dynamite-filled bombs to prominent politicians, in an attempt to overthrow the government. These bombings provided the fuel for the Red Scare. The dark period of paranoia in American history, which politicians and the media propelled using hyperbolic rhetoric, led to illegal search and seizures, arrests and detentions without warrants, and massive deportation of suspects considered radical or anarchist in nature.

That year, legislators ratified the Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and prohibition began soon afterwards, outlawing the manufacturing, possession, and consumption of alcohol. However, Doss's father broke the law on a daily basis. William was an alcoholic, as firmly pulled by the liquor bottle as his mother was by the Lord. Bertha was determined in her faith, and provided the catalyst for Desmond's strong beliefs.

The film Hacksaw Ridge , which chronicles the life of Desmond, characterizes his father, as physically abusive, but it was not the case. The World War I veteran, who received a Silver Star for meritorious service, was more dispirited, emotionally abusive, and unavailable than anything else. However, one evening violence did infiltrate the Doss home, when his father and uncle, both inebriated, began arguing. His father grabbed a gun, and pointed it at his uncle. Before William could pull the trigger, Desmond's mother separated the two men, took the weapon, and handed it to her upset son, who went to hide it. Upon his return, Desmond saw the police carting his father away in handcuffs. As the black police wagon drove away, he swore to himself that he would never use a gun.

In the Doss home, a framed picture of the Ten Commandments was a prominent fixture. Beside each commandment, a colorful illustration interpreted each command. The picture that represented "Thou shalt not kill" was a reminder of the Bible's first murder, the killing of Abel by his brother Cain.

"How in the world could a brother do such a thing?" Desmond lamented in the book "Beyond Glory", an oral account of Medal of Honor winners. "It put horror in my heart...and I took it personally."

After eighth grade, Desmond dropped out of school to help his family with living expenses as the Great Depression took its toll on American families. The depression began in 1929, and by 1933, when Desmond was 14, the United States was falling apart. The average American family income dropped 40 percent, 15 million people (12 percent of the U.S. population) were unemployed, and half of U.S. banks had failed. Experts call the Great Depression, the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, and Doss's family was no exception to the economic suffering. The family struggled mightily, and Desmond's father tugged harder at the bottle.