Answers to Go with Susan Smith
Q. Is the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" based on a true story?
A. This patron had watched the library’s DVD copy of the 2016 film. Our catalog entry for the film provides this summary:
“The true story of WWII American Army medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa and was awarded the Medal of Honor despite never using a weapon.”
I checked the reference book, “Encyclopedia of American War Heroes” for further information. Here is an excerpt from the citation as presented by President Harry Truman: “The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private First Class Desmond Thomas Doss, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty from April 29 - 21 May 1945, while serving with the Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division, in action at Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands.
“Private First Class Doss was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back.
“Private First Class Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands.”
This is just the first story of Doss risking his life to save wounded soldiers. Similar reports of individual acts of bravery were reported for May 2, May 4 and May 5.
Doss himself was wounded later in May: “On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade.
“Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited five hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Private First Class Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man.
“Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of one arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station.
“Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Private First Class Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.”
Doss’s biography, “The Unlikeliest Hero,” was republished as “Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge” when the film was released. We have a copy of that book in our collection of World War II history books.
Why was Doss an unlikely hero? Like many other Seventh Day Adventists during both World Wars, he was a conscientious objector who was eager to serve his country as a noncombatant medic.
