Desmond Doss: 'conscientious participator' who risked it all

Private First Class Desmond Thomas Doss didn't like to call himself a conscientious objector.

It's true that his beliefs as a devout Seventh-day Adventist forbade him to bear arms, but when drafted into World War II, he didn't think of refusing to serve. Nor did he apply for the deferment he doubtless would've gotten because of his job at the Newport News shipyard.

Doss considered the war just and was eager to serve his country. But for him, that meant helping his fellow soldiers as a combat medic. Thus, he considered himself a “conscientious participator.”

His fellow enlisted men didn't see the difference; they just considered him a coward. He was constantly hazed and ostracized during basic training, and his commanding officers made repeated attempts to have him discharged.

Doss held his ground and soon proved his valor, earning Bronze Stars for treating wounded men under fire on Guam and in the Philippines. It was on Okinawa that Doss performed his most stunning act of courage. After taking heavy losses on the clifftop known as Hacksaw Ridge (which provided the title for Mel Gibson's fine 2016 movie about Doss), Doss' company was ordered to retreat.

But some 75 wounded men remained behind, unable to move. Doss single-handedly rescued them, lowering them down the cliffside on a rope one by one. Although he miraculously emerged from this battle unharmed, Doss was later severely wounded; he also developed tuberculosis. In 1945, he became the only conscientious objector in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor.

A 1987 interview with Doss sheds light on the kind of man who would willingly storm in battle unarmed: "I was trying to take the safest precautions I could, but I felt like my life should be no more important than my buddies. My men reminded me of my family. There's something about combat that actually makes you more closely tied to each other. I think you are almost your own blood kin. Those men trusted me."