‘War’ never brought answers but pain for the generations left behind and scars for the living. In a world where people kill each other for territory, religion and power, small acts of humanity could save the world. History tells us the story of a young man who stepped into the battlefield without a gun to save war victims.
This man of exceptional bravery is glorified for his immense sacrifices at war. The silver screen captured his story to reveal it to a worldwide audience, naming it Hacksaw Ridge.
Desmond Doss’ soul was sacrificed to God and country. This hero was born in Lynchburg, Virginia to a Christian family and spent his childhood unfashionably bound to religion. Joining the United States Army as a medic and as a soldier he encountered the difficulty of reconciling his adherence to the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill’. On the contrary, he found his own way of fulfilling the commandment in the battlefield by refusing to carry a gun or a knife, even in the worst of situations.
In May1945, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa in order to capture the Maeda Escarpment, an imposing rock face the soldiers called, Hacksaw Ridge which the Japanese were fiercely defending.
Soon after the US troops secured the top of the cliff, the Japanese force’s attack felled more than a hundred soldiers. Regardless of massive gunfire and explosions on the Ridge, Doss took immediate action to save the wounded and dying, while disobeying orders to charge back. Even though his fellow soldiers withdrew from the battlefield as the troops were down, Doss waited till dusk to rescue as many of the wounded, as he could. Secretly crawling on the ground from wounded soldier to soldier, Doss dragged them to the edge of the ridge, tied them to a rope and then lowered them to the medics below.
Throughout the rescue, there was just one prayer Doss murmured all the time; “‘Lord, please help me get one more”. His unflagging courage saved seventy five lives in the Battle of Okinawa which was recorded as the bloodiest battle of World War II. Later on, he was wounded in the legs by a grenade trying to avoid an attack on his fellow soldiers.
Soon after the US troop’s victory at Hacksaw Ridge, brave soldiers were awarded and complimented. Desmond Doss - the savior of wounded was awarded the Medal of Honour by the United States Government. At the ceremony President Harry S. Truman warmly held the hand of Corporal Desmond Thomas Doss, and complimented, “I’m proud of you, you really deserve this. I consider this a greater honour than being President.”
The official citation for the award reads, “On April 29 1945 during an assault on a high summit of the Japanese island, heavy enemy gunfire inflicted serious injuries on approximately 75 Americans. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported ladder down the face of a cliff to friendly hands.” At present Doss’ life story has been the subject of books, the documentaries and the movie Hacksaw Ridge. After enjoying a peaceful life in retirement, he passed away on March 23, 2006.
Doss’s form of heroism could save the world for all living beings. His life story is ‘a must read’ for everyone as he is an example of what it really means to be a ‘peacemaker’. And dear readers don’t forget that ‘Not all the heroes wear capes’.