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Matt Parra on times when the majority is wrong

At basic training, all of Desmond Doss’ fellow soldiers felt like he was a peculiar pest, to the point that they did not want him by their side. It was because he believed in something different, and was willing to stand up for those beliefs.

Desmond would eventually go on to prove them all wrong, in spectacular fashion at the Battle of Okinawa. It was his odd and peculiar beliefs and convictions that motivated Doss to put himself in danger to protect the men in his unit.

It goes to show that the majority is not always right. What seems peculiar, strange or odd might actually be something incredible – something that could change your life for the better.

Different battles, same Doss
For two years, the Army labeled him a worthless liability - but Doss knew otherwise.

Doss’s actions in Okinawa are deserving of our attention and admiration. Yet the unarmed medic was a hero before he ever stepped foot atop Hacksaw Ridge.

By Linden Chuang.

 

“Most Medal of Honor winners, they’ll do things in an instant. It’s a decision they make and they do something insanely courageous and heroic,” explains Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson to the Sydney Morning Herald.

“But with [Desmond Doss], it wasn’t an instant. It was over and over again.”

Indeed it was. Seventy-five times, to be exact.

Well, nearly exact. Doss’s commanding officer believed the army medic saved 100 lives over the course of that one night in Okinawa. The ever-humble Doss believed the number to be closer to 50.

Doss’s heroics atop Hacksaw Ridge are deserving of our attention and admiration, but those 50, 75 or 100 rescued soldiers are not what Gibson is referring to when speaking about Doss’s relentlessness.

“He did [it] again and again in the Philippines and Guam.”

It’s an interesting point for the director to bring up, considering he chose to leave out Doss’s first experiences of war from the film (which depicts his regiment heading straight to Okinawa).

In March 1944, Doss and the rest of the 77th Infantry Division shipped out to the island of Guam. From the start the battles were bloody and intense.

“Them boys fired them machines guns and things ‘til the barrels was turning red,” recalls radio operator V L Starling in the Doss documentary The Conscientious Objector.

“It was scary,” says company aid man Daniel Gaudenti. “Really scary.”

The medics had the most to fear on the Guam battlefields, as the Japanese would target them in order to break the morale of the other soldiers. Doss used the cover of darkness as his ally in attending the wounded, even if medics weren’t supposed to head out onto the battlefield during the night.

Starling remembers Doss saying, “Them guys that’s wounded out there I gotta go see about them. That’s my job.”

“If they wasn’t dead he’d take care of them and drag them back,” adds Starling. “I don’t know how he kept from getting shot by the enemy.”

It didn’t take long for stories of Doss’s heroics to circulate. Even Commander Jack Glover, who blatantly told Doss he didn’t want him by his side in war, started to take notice.

Battle after battle, “there was always some story in regards to Desmond T Doss, the medic, who absolutely refused to allow wounded soldiers to not be treated,” said Glover.

One story from the Philippine island of Leyte, where the 77th Division were sent following Guam, saw Doss run 90 metres through machine gunfire to rescue two wounded soldiers. One of the men was already dead when he reached them, but Doss managed to carry the other to safety.

Doss was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his efforts in Guam and the Philippines. He would later receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of 75 wounded soldiers in Okinawa.

“It was over and over again.”

Gibson is right. They were different battles, but the same Desmond Doss.

 

Image courtesy of Desmond Doss Council.

Cristian Copaceanu on God’s role during terrible times

In the movie Hacksaw Ridge, we watch as Desmond Doss puts himself in danger to help his fellow man. He does some incredible things, all against the horrifying backdrop of World War II.

While it’s inspiring to discover Doss’ story, it’s valid to ask – where God was during these awful years?

We could ask the same question for every terrible thing we go through – illness, family problems, and more. Where is God during our most difficult moments?

And this question raises even more. If God is all-powerful, couldn’t he simply solve the problems we face – the small and the large? And if he does intervene, does that mean we don’t really have the power to make our own decisions, whatever the consequences?

Christian and Nic touch on these difficult questions in this short interview. For more insight, take a look at our online Study Guides, inspired by the hero of Hacksaw Ridge.

 

Why didn’t God stop the bloody war? with Cristian Copaceanu

Desmond Doss credits his heroic bravery at Hacksaw Ridge to God. But where was God?

 

Why did He allow the carnage of World War II to even happen? Why does he allow so much suffering and pain to just go on?

Journey through time, space and the Bible with Cristian this Friday at 6:30pm to discover the answers to these questions.

 

If you’ve enjoyed tonight’s discussion, make sure to register to receive your copy of The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge, the official biography of Desmond Doss. You can also try your hand at the Online Challenge and then continue following in Doss’ footsteps with our Online Study Guides.

 

Meet Cristian Copaceanu

Cristian has travelled throughout Australia, New Zealand and beyond conducting public presentations on history, faith and spirituality. He is also the founder of Faith FM, one of Australia’s largest radio networks with over 120 stations on air around the country. He currently resides in Melbourne with his wife and two daughters where he works as the Community Engagement Director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia.

 

Kill + Heal
A time to kill and a time to heal…

One man refused to carry a weapon, the other willingly embraced violence in order to protect the innocent – who can say who was right?

By Kent Kingston.

 

Meet Sam Childers. In many ways he’s about as different from Hacksaw Ridge’s Desmond Doss as you can imagine. In other ways, he’s remarkably the same.

Sam Childers is a patriotic American from the backwoods of Pennsylvania. After a misspent youth and young adulthood of drugs, violence and crime, he began to reform his lifestyle, worried that if he kept on with the way he was going, he’d soon be dead. Following his wife back to the Baptist faith of her childhood, Sam became a committed believer himself, even taking to the pulpit at times.

The story could’ve ended there, with Sam approaching old age gracefully as his construction business prospered, his porch rocking chair surrounded by adoring grandchildren. But a church mission trip to Sudan changed all that. Confronted by the violence and suffering he saw there and sensing clear direction from God, Sam sold his business and began a lifelong campaign to rescue the war-traumatised children of what is now South Sudan. Together with local and overseas supporters, Sam built an orphanage that has fed and housed more than 1000 children over the years. He also began to mount armed expeditions to rescue children kidnapped by Joseph Kony’s brutal terrorist group, the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Yes. Armed expeditions. That’s how Sam Childers differs from the thousands of other humanitarians who have devoted their lives to relieving poverty and suffering in developing countries. And in contrast with the political wariness of most foreign aid workers, Sam became quite friendly with a number of southern rebel militiamen, who accompanied him as he willingly shouldered an AK-47 on his rescue missions.

And so the legend of the Machine Gun Preacher was born — and the film. Like Desmond Doss, Sam’s story has been immortalised on the silver screen, with Gerard Butler (Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, Phantom of the Opera, 300) in the lead role.

Two men. Both patriotic Americans. Both claiming the call of God prompted their lifesaving work in warzones. But while one man refused to carry a weapon, the other has willingly embraced violence in order to protect the innocent.

The contrast between these two brave men poses all kinds of questions. Which of them made the right choice in relation to violence? Did one or the other of them get their message from God garbled? Were their missions really a result of divine calling or just overactive imaginations? Can we realistically explain their consistently selfless actions without some kind of otherworldly guidance?

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven,” said Solomon, king of ancient Israel and reputedly the wisest man who ever lived. “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal…”

Sobering words, and not ones to be taken lightly, considering the violence that has been done, and is still being done, by those marching under the banner of religion or freedom or national pride. What’s your answer? Is there “a time to kill”?

 

Beyond the call of duty
Doss was a conscientious objector because he didn’t want to take lives

“He who wishes to fight must first count the cost,” said Chinese general Sun Tzu in The Art of War, his book on military strategy.

By Vania Chew.

 

Desmond Doss was all too aware of the cost that would come with war. During his childhood, he often spent time looking at a framed poster of the Ten Commandments that his father had bought at an auction. The poster depicted Cain, a man who had killed his brother, holding a club and standing over his brother’s body (you can read the story in Genesis 4).

“When I looked at that picture, I came to the Sixth Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’” said Doss. “I wondered how in the world could a brother do such a thing? It put a horror in my heart of just killing.”

How could a man go to war if he refused to kill? If he didn’t want to carry a weapon, the battlefield should be the last place that he wanted to be. In fact, Doss was offered plenty of opportunities to avoid the wartime conflict — even a psychiatric discharge that would deem him unfit for war. But he wouldn’t accept the discharge.

Irish statesman Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Doss was a conscientious objector because he didn’t want to take lives. However, he also recognised that his service could help save lives. And he wasn’t content to do a poor job. He was determined to serve to the best of his ability. As Doss lowered soldier after soldier to safety in the midst of enemy fire, he would pray, “Lord, help me get one more!”

Matthew 7:12 says, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” (NLT). If we were in positions of need, we would want people to do their best to help us. Doss’ story of service should inspire us to help those in need — not only to serve, but to go beyond the call of duty.

What drove Desmond Doss’ sacrifice?
Many of those that Doss fought and served with were injured or even killed.

“I was willing to go to the front lines to save life, but not to take life,” said Private Desmond Doss.

By Jarrod Stackelroth.

 

Here was a man who gave up the comforts of home and safety — including his new wife — and even had to endure physical and mental abuse in the army, as well as the stress of legal proceedings against him, all so he could go to the front lines to save lives.

He even volunteered. It’s not like he was forced to go and made the best of a bad situation.

He actually wanted to go so he could make a difference — so he could fight against the injustice that threatened to engulf the world.

Now that is sacrifice.

Many of those that Doss fought and served with were injured or even killed.

These days, the biggest thing we sacrifice is our pocket change to charity, our comfort to help a cause, or a creature comfort to save money for something bigger like a house. The word sacrifice is almost foreign to our vocabulary.

In our comfortable material society, those who probably understand sacrifice best are parents. They sometimes give up jobs, hobbies or even go without luxuries to ensure their kids have everything they need.

So what is the ultimate driving force for sacrifice? Love. Love, the true deep down kind that takes over our whole lives, like the kind of love a parent has for a child, is the greatest motivating factor for sacrifice. Fear and other motivations can drive us to do amazing things and they can push us, but the purest and strongest motivation — one that pushes us to suffer sacrificial loss — is love. It is the kind of love that’s like that of a parent who would run back into a burning building without question to save their child. That is the kind of love and sacrifice Doss was able to exhibit.

The Bible says “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

When Doss was injured, he actually gave up his place on the stretcher to help someone who was wounded worse. That is love.

Jesus had the riches and power of heaven and yet He gave it all up to sacrifice His life for humanity. The ultimate sacrifice.

“I came to seek and save the lost,” He said (Luke 19: 10).

 

The power of prayer demonstrated at Okinawa
For two years, the Army labeled him a worthless liability - but Doss knew otherwise.

Doss understood the importance of prayer in his own life, and knew it didn’t have to be complicated to have a massive impact.

By Jarrod Stackelroth.

 

One of the most powerful scenes of Hacksaw Ridge is when Desmond Doss prays, “Help me get just one more, Lord.” It is a plea, a cry from a man who is physically, emotionally and mentally drained; a cry for strength and support, for patience and providence to step in and save. Of course, Doss doesn’t stop at just one. In the end, praying all the way, he rescues some 75 men from the top of that hellish escarpment.

This is not the only time we see Doss in prayer. He prays before battle and before he makes big decisions. His company even holds up an attack until he has finished his prayers. And yet as he says himself, prayer is not like a conversation with God. He never hears much back. So why does he pray?

Well, it is not some spell or incantation that can force God to act in the way we require or desire. There is no magic formula to prayer. How can we say that Doss’s prayers saved him from death when others who died were undoubtedly praying people?

And yet prayer was crucial for Doss. It reminded him of something bigger than himself. It gave him hope. Christians believe God hears our prayers and takes an interest in our lives. The Bible says that God even knows the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7).

Prayer reminds us to be grateful for what we have. Prayer gives us an outlet to express thanks for the blessings we have done nothing to deserve. Prayer helps us express our frustrations, our hurts and our mistakes to someone who is always there — and who wants to listen. Prayer increases our resilience and gives us inner strength, strength that Doss certainly called on in his darkest hour. Prayer is a candle in that darkness that cannot be extinguished.

Christians will often pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). It is a prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and is often used as a model, to teach people how to pray. The basic things it covers are: acknowledging God as our Father and acknowledging His sovereignty; placing the future in His hands; asking for the things we need; asking for forgiveness and to help us forgive; and protection from everything that can go wrong in the world.

When prayer is used like this, it helps us acknowledge that things are out of our control, helps us not to worry, helps us to be grateful and gives us hope for the future.

Doss understood the importance of prayer in his own life. You can pray like Doss today — just keep it simple and talk to God.

 

Image courtesy of the Desmond Doss Council.

Conquering the Unconquerable
Desmond Doss tackled unconquerable battles with an unwavering faith.

Desmond Doss tackled unconquerable battles with an unwavering faith.

By Maritza Brunt.

 

Picture this: it’s May 1945. The B Company of the 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, is about to scale a 400-foot-high ridge. Waiting for them over the crest is a minefield of several thousand Japanese soldiers with machine guns, snipers and submachine guns.

For the US soldiers, even armed with their own rifles and weapons, it was a challenge of immeasurable proportions.

But for one medic, it was virtually impossible.

Desmond Doss ran headfirst into this inexorable battle without a single weapon or concern for his personal safety. From the point of his fellow troops, it was inconceivable; there was no way he’d survive the battle without a weapon. But Doss knew that he didn’t need a gun to fight his battle. He only needed his faith to know that he was already more than a conqueror through Christ, who loved him (Romans 8:37).

The Battle of Okinawa, one of the most brutal battles of World War II, was won by the Allied troops in June of 1945. The soldiers overcame. Desmond Doss singlehandedly saved the lives of 75 of his fellow soldiers following one particularly intense encounter during the battle — there were many more he saved during the rest of his service in the Army. The insurmountable challenge was completed.

Although you may not run headfirst into a war setting without a weapon, we all have our own Battles of Okinawa: tasks and challenges that we face that — at first — may seem unconquerable. What can we do in these cases?

Doss’s solution was simple: never let go of your faith. He didn’t back down from his convictions and stood up for what he believed in even in the face of adversary. He prayed constantly, asking God for strength. He treasured God’s Word and valued it above all else.

He tackled unconquerable battles with an unwavering faith.

And he conquered — every time.

 

Meet Desmond Doss: The hero of Hacksaw Ridge
desmond doss dragged 75 men to safety during the ferocious battle

The men were ordered to withdraw but Doss refused – instead, he single-handedly dragged 75 wounded and dying soldiers to the ledge before lowering them to safety.

By Natalia Grobler.

 

The same man who had been ostracised by the army soon became the object of their deep admiration and respect. He shipped out with the 307th Infantry in the summer of 1944, and served as a combat medic on Guam and at Leyte in the Philippines. Doss fearlessly charged into exposed areas under heavy artillery fire without a weapon to treat casualties and drag wounded soldiers to safety. Doss went out sometimes without orders or even against orders. He believed that as long as there was life there was hope.

The most fierce fighting of the war in the Pacific occurred at Okinawa on an escarpment approximately 90 metres high that was known as Hacksaw Ridge. On 29 April, 1945, a brutal battle was fought. The men were ordered to withdraw but Doss refused. He single-handedly spent 12 hours dragging 75 wounded and dying soldiers to the ledge before lowering them to safety.  Some of the injured were hauled 100 metres. Doss was a slight man weighing around 70kg and yet at times he supported one soldier under each arm. Bullets whizzed past him, but he was not hit.  One Japanese soldier claimed to have had clear shots of Doss as he worked that night, but each time he fired, the rifle jammed. Doss saved on average one man every 10 minutes. He prayed constantly, “Lord, please give me one more.”

Doss saw the grenade coming on 21 May, 1945. He waited hours for help before being carried through intense gunfire. When he spotted another wounded soldier Doss selflessly rolled off the litter and gave up his place. As he lay waiting for help a second time, he was hit by a sniper. Doss managed to make himself a splint and then, with 17 pieces of shrapnel in his body and a fractured arm, he crawled around 275 metres under fire to the aid station. Doss lost his Bible during this ordeal — it had been his source of constant strength throughout the war. When the company heard about the missing Bible, they returned to the battlefield and searched until they found it.

Doss allowed God to use him to share his faith and demonstrate the power of grace. “Greater love has no man than this” that he would risk his life over and over again for soldiers who had once ridiculed and despised him.