Browsed by
Tag: battle

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.

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.

Justin Lawman on the powers of good and evil in Hacksaw Ridge

“Whether you’re an atheist, an agnostic or a believer – there’s good and evil in the world.” Justin Lawman outlines the powers of good and evil in the world, and the choices we must make every day to make sure the good always shines through.

Mel Gibson on Hacksaw Ridge: ‘Real superheroes don’t wear Spandex’
faith-of-doss-guardian

Mel Gibson received a standing ovation when Hacksaw Ridge debuted at the Venice Film Festival this year. It’s almost as if Gibson came out of retirement to tell this story – it’s his first directorial effort in more than ten years. And when asked why he chose to tell the story of Desmond Doss – the World War II conscientious objector who went on to become a war hero – Gibson said: “To go into that [the Battle of Okinawa armed with only your faith, your faith has to be strong in you. That’s an undeniable part of the story I found really inspiring.”

Visit Site +
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.