Desmond Doss - He Earned the Medal of Honor in WWII

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In this day and age, we call all sorts of people heroes. Movie stars, sports figures, rock bands, etc. But there was a time when REAL heroes walked among us. One of these people was a short, thin farmer named Desmond Doss. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He served in the medical corp. And he never fired a gun. He didn't even carry one. But he was instrumental in saving the lives of well over 100-men.

Cpl. Desmond Doss, 1919-2006.

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Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, he refused to carry a weapon.

He was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for actions on Guam and in the Philippines. Doss further distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving an estimated 75 men, acting on his own, becoming the first of only three conscientious objectors to receive the Medal of Honor for this and other actions, the others being Thomas W. Bennett and Joseph G. LaPointe Jr., who were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

His life has been the subject of books, the 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector, and the 2016 Oscar-winning film Hacksaw Ridge, in which he was portrayed by Andrew Garfield.

Andrew Garfield at the 2025 Venice Film Festival.

Early life ~

Desmond Thomas Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Thomas Doss (1893–1989), a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Doss (née Oliver) (1899–1983), a homemaker and shoe factory worker. William Doss registered for the draft between 1917 and 1918 in Lynchburg, Virginia, as part of the Selective Service System. His mother raised him as a devout Seventh-day Adventist and instilled Sabbath-keeping, nonviolence, and vegetarianism in his upbringing. He grew up in the Fairview Heights area of Lynchburg, alongside his older sister Audrey and younger brother Harold.

Doss attended the Park Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church school until the eighth grade, and subsequently found a job at the Lynchburg Lumber Company to support his family during the Great Depression. Before the outbreak of World War II, Doss was employed as a joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia.

World War II ~

Despite being offered a draft deferment because of his shipyard work, Doss refused it out of patriotic reasons, and was inducted into the Army on April 1, 1942, at Camp Lee, Virginia. He was sent to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for training with the reactivated 77th Infantry Division. Meanwhile, his brother Harold served aboard the USS Lindsey.

USS Lindsey, DM 32 (ex-DD 771), off San Pedro, California, 5 September 1944.

Doss refused to carry a weapon into combat because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist against killing. He consequently became a medic assigned to the 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.

Desmond Doss during his Army service.

While serving with his platoon in 1944 in Guam and the Philippines, he was awarded two Bronze Star Medals with a "V" device, for exceptional valor in aiding wounded soldiers under fire. During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 50–100 wounded infantrymen atop the area known by the 96th Division as the Maeda Escarpment or Hacksaw Ridge. Doss was wounded four times in Okinawa, and was evacuated on May 21, 1945, aboard the USS Mercy. Doss suffered a left arm fracture from a sniper's bullet while being carried back to Allied lines and at one point had 17 pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body after attempting to kick a grenade away from himself and his comrades. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Okinawa.

Doss on top of the Maeda Escarpment, May 4, 1945. Wounded men being lowered by rope harness.

Post-war life ~

After the war, Doss wanted to continue his career in carpentry but extensive damage to his left arm made that impossible. In 1946, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, contracted on Leyte. He underwent treatment for five and a half years — losing a lung and five ribs — before being discharged from the hospital in August 1951 with 90% disability.

Doss recovering in hospital.

After an overdose of antibiotics rendered him completely deaf in 1976, he was given 100% disability; he was able to regain his hearing after receiving a cochlear implant in 1988. Despite his injuries, he managed to raise a family on a small farm in Rising Fawn, Georgia.

Doss married Dorothy Pauline Schutte on August 17, 1942, and they had one child, Desmond "Tommy" Doss Jr., born in 1946. Desmond, Jr. followed in his father's footsteps, serving as an army medic, then as a firefighter and paramedic. On November 17, 1991, Dorothy died in a car accident that happened while Doss was driving her to the hospital for cancer treatment. Doss remarried on July 1, 1993, to Frances May Duman.

Doss married Dorothy Pauline Schutte.

After being hospitalized for difficulty breathing, Doss died on March 23, 2006, at his home in Piedmont, Alabama. He was buried on April 3, 2006, in the Chattanooga National Cemetery, Tennessee. Frances died three years later on February 3, 2009, at the Piedmont Health Care Center in Piedmont, Alabama.

Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Desmond Doss' funeral.

Awards and decorations ~

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Private First Class, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.

Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, April 29, 1945 – May 21, 1945.

Entered service at: Lynchburg, Virginia

Birth: Lynchburg, Virginia

G.O. No.: 97, November 1, 1945.

Other awards and decorations ~

In addition to his Medal of Honor, he also received a bronze star for valor with one Oak Leaf Cluster (signifying two bronze stars), the Asiatic-Pacific campaign medal with three bronze stars, and beachhead arrowhead (signifying service in 4 combat campaigns including an amphibious landing under combat conditions), and the Good Conduct Medal, as well as the aforementioned Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf clusters (signifying three Purple Hearts).

Other honors and recognition ~

A portion of US Route 501 near Peaks View Park is named "Pfc. Desmond T. Doss Memorial Expressway." Local veterans of the area honor him by decorating the signs marking this portion of road several times during the year, particularly around patriotic holidays.

In 1951, Camp Desmond T. Doss was created in Grand Ledge, Michigan, to help train young Seventh-day Adventist men for service in the military. The camp was active throughout the Korean and Vietnam Wars before the property was sold in 1988.

Men training from Camp Desmond T. Doss in Grand Ledge, Michigan.

In the early 1980s, a school in Lynchburg was renamed Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy. The school was founded by the Lynchburg Seventh-day Adventist Church, the home church of Desmond Doss during his years in Lynchburg. The church wanted to honor Doss for standing strong in his faith despite facing great adversity. Doss visited the school that bears his name three times before his death.

On July 10, 1990, a section of Georgia Highway 2 between US Highway 27 and Georgia Highway 193 in Walker County was named the "Desmond T. Doss Medal of Honor Highway."

On March 20, 2000, Doss appeared before the Georgia House of Representatives and was presented a special resolution honoring his heroic accomplishments on behalf of the country.

On July 4, 2004, a statue of Doss was dedicated at the National Museum of Patriotism in Atlanta, Georgia, which remained until the museum's closure in July 2010.

In May 2007, a statue of Doss was dedicated at Veterans Memorial Park in Collegedale, Tennessee.

In July 2008, the guest house at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., was renamed Doss Memorial Hall.

On August 30, 2008, a two-mile stretch of Alabama Highway 9 in Piedmont was named the "Desmond T. Doss Sr. Memorial Highway."

On October 25, 2016, the city of Lynchburg, Virginia, awarded a plaque in his honor to Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy.

On February 7, 2017, PETA posthumously honored Doss with a Hero to Animals award in recognition of his lifelong commitment to vegetarianism.

On May 7, 2019, the U.S. Army Health Clinic-Schofield Barracks in Hawaii was renamed the Desmond T. Doss Health Clinic.

On October 12, 2020, the Lynchburg Virginia Area Veterans Council dedicated a plaque at his former childhood home to commemorate the Desmond T. Doss Veterans Home. The home is Doss's birthplace and is now used as a homeless and displaced veterans shelter.

In media

Television and film ~

On February 18, 1959, Doss appeared on the Ralph Edwards NBC TV show This Is Your Life.

Doss on the TV show, This Is Your Life. 1959.

Doss is the subject of The Conscientious Objector, a 2004 documentary by Terry Benedict.

The 2016 feature film Hacksaw Ridge, based on his life, was produced by Terry Benedict and directed by Mel Gibson, with Andrew Garfield portraying him. Garfield was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge.

Doss was profiled in a three-part TV series by It Is Written in November 2016.

Print ~

Doss is the subject of four biographical books:

Herndon, Booton (2004). The Unlikeliest Hero: The Story of Desmond T. Doss, Conscientious Objector Who Won His Nation's Highest Military Honor. Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association. ISBN 978-0-8163-2048-6.

Desmond Doss Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero (2015) by Frances M. Doss.

Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge: The Gripping True Story That Inspired The Movie (2016) by Booton Herndon.

The Birth of Hacksaw Ridge: How It All Began (2017) by Gregory Crosby and Gene Church.

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A young Desmond Doss.

Doss demonstrates how he ties up 75 wounded soldiers and lowers them to safety.

Doss in the hospital.

Doss with the bible he carried all through his military service.

Doss on top of the Maeda Escarpment, May 4, 1945 lowering the wounded from the cliff while under Japanese fire.

Doss wearing an HBT jacket with a medic’s kit bag around his neck on Okinawa. Photo courtesy of the US National Archives.

Doss' parents: Tom Doss, seen here with wife Bertha, in the 1940s.

William Doss.

William Doss' WW1 Registration.

William Doss' WW2 Registration.

Doss' sister Audrey.

Harold Edward Doss. Brother.

Dorothy Pauline Schutte Doss. Desmond's first wife.

Dorothy Doss.

Dorothy and Desmond.

Dorothy and Desmond with their son, Desmond Doss Jr.

Desmond with his mother and wife.

Desmond, Dorothy, Audrey and Audrey's husband with their baby. Desmond Jr. standing in front.

William and son Desmond.

Frances May Sherman Duman Doss. Desmond's second wife.

Frances at a dedication ceremony.

Corporal Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman on October 12, 1945.

Officers had to have a look at the medal.

Here are the fifteen servicemen of World War II, who were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in a mass presentation ceremony in the White House gardens Oct. 12. President Truman presented the awards. Seated (left to right): Sgt. Christos H. Karaberis, Manchester, NH; Sgt. Freeman V. Horner, Shamokin, PA; Cpl. Desmond T. Doss, Lynchburg, VA, a conscientious objector; Cpl. Clarence B. Craft, Santa Ana, CA; Capt. James M. Burt, South Lee, MA; Cpl. Melvin E. Biddle, Anderson, IN; Cpl. Edward A. Bennett, Middleport, OR; Cpl. Thomas E. Atkins, Campobello, SC. Standing (left to right): Pfc. William A. Soderman, West Haven, CN; 2nd Lt. John C. Sjogren, Rockford, MI; 1st Lt. Edward A. Silk, Johnstown, PA; T/Sgt. Cleto Rodriguez, San Antonio, TX; M/Sgt. Nicholas Oresko, Tenafly, NJ; Sgt. Dester J. Kerstetter, Centralia, WA; and Sgt. Thomas J. Kelly, Brooklyn, NY.