Pfc. Desmond Doss, the Rest of the Story, Part One©

 

 

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Last week we talked about Pfc Desmond Doss and how he used a double bowline with a chest safety hitch to lower wounded American soldiers down a 35 foot (10 meter) cliff overhang.

 

But there is more to Desmond Doss’s story than what Hollywood showed in the movie Hacksaw Ridge.  And “now for the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say in that old time radio program.

 

Desmond T. Doss was born on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia, and he died on March 23, 2006, in Piedmont, Alabama.  Even though Doss was employed as a joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, and had a deferment because of his shipyard work, he enlisted April 1, 1942.  Doss believed the war was just and desired to do his part by saving lives, not taking them, that is why he described himself as a “conscientious cooperator”. 

 

After training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Doss was assigned as a medic to the 2^nd Platoon, Company B, 1^st Battalion, 307^th Infantry, 77^th Infantry Division and in the spring of 1944, shipped out, bound for the Pacific. 

 

The 77th landed in Guam in July 1944.  For his bravery during the Second Battle of Guam (July 21 to August 10, 1944) in treating wounded men under fire, Doss was awarded a Bronze Star with the “V” device for valor.  Whenever the cry, “medic” rang out across the battlefield, he never thought of his own safety, he repeatedly braved enemy fire to reach and treat a wounded soldier and carry him back to safety.

 

After Guam, the 307th landed behind Japanese lines at Ormoc and help end of the Battle of Leyte Island, (October 17 to December 26, 1944).  Time after time at Leyte, Desmond faced Japanese fire to rescue the wounded and get them to safety.  Once while moving into an open to rescue a fallen soldier, his fellow soldiers watched in horror as a Japanese sniper leveled his weapon at Desmond.  They were unable to fire at the sniper, for fear of injuring some of their own.  For his repeated heroism during the Battle of Leyte, Doss was again awarded a Bronze Star with the “V” device for valor.

 

After the Battle of Leyte, Doss and 307th fought at the Battle of Okinawa, (April 1 to June 22, 1945) landing on Yakabi Shima and Zamami Shima before the main landings of April 1st  Later the 307th would land on Ie Shima, before coming ashore on Okinawa and relieving the 96th Division at Hacksaw Ridge.  The Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest, fiercest, biggest and costliest battle of the Pacific War, rivaling Normandy in size and complexity.

 

Doss and Companies A and B of the 307th Infantry, began their attack on Hacksaw Ridge on Sunday, April 29, using scaling ladders to get atop the cliff.  According to the accounts by both “Private First Class Desmond T. Doss Interview, March 20, 1987” and the “Desmond T. Doss” Home of the Heroes, before climbing the cliff, Desmond Doss had prayed and it wasn’t until he said “amen”, that the soldiers began climbing the scaling ladders to reach the top of the escarpment.  When they reached the top of the cliff, Co. B was immediately pinned down by the heavy enemy fire.  To their left, where Co. A was fighting to secure its sector of the cliff edge, the first five men to the top were killed and casualties climbed to the point that Co. A was unable to proceed.  Headquarters radioed Co. B to report its casualties.  They radioed back that so far there had been none.  Co. B was ordered to continue the assault and take the Maeda Escarpment, so the men of Doss’s B company swept across the cliff edge, engaging the enemy, and knocking out eight or nine pillboxes.  At the end of the day, they had taken their objective with not a single man was killed and only one soldier wounded in the hand when a rock fell on it. 

 

The next day an inquiry was made to determine how Co. B had accomplished the assault on the Maeda Escarpment cliff edge without a single casualty.  A photographer was sent to take a picture on May 4, 1945, and Lieutenant Goronto of Co. B sent Pfc. Desmond Doss back to the top of the escarpment to pose.  There was no reasonable way to explain how Co. B had pulled off the assault and taken the cliff edge without any casualties.  “Desmond T. Doss” Home of the Heroes, with no other way to conclude the report, the official answer was filed, “Doss prayed”.

 

However, Companies A and B remained stuck along the top of the cliff edge while the majority of the Maeda Escarpment remained in Japanese hands.  On May 2nd, under heavy artillery and mortar fire, Co. B was ordered to withdraw from the clifftop.  Desmond refused to withdraw and leave wounded Americans behind, he voluntarily stayed behind to rescue and lower more than seventy five wounded American soldiers down the 35 foot (10 meter) cliff overhang of the Maeda Escarpment, while under constant enemy fire,

 

Please come back next week to read the rest of Desmond Doss’s story in “Pfc. Desmond Doss and the rest of the Story Part Two©”

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Sources

 

Desmonddoss.com; “Desmond Doss: The Real Story”, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php, accessed May 17, 2025

 

Home of Heroes; “Desmond T. Doss”, [© 2018 by Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC], https://homeofheroes.com/heroes-stories/world-war-ii/desmond-t-doss/#:~:text=After%20soundly%20defeating%20the%20Japanese,released%20by%20Lionsgate%20in%202016, accessed May 17, 2025

 

National WW2 Museum; “Private First Class Desmond Thomas Doss Medal of Honor”, October 12, 2020, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/private-first-class-desmond-thomas-doss-medal-of-honor, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Prefer, Nathan N.; “Hell on Hacksaw Ridge”, August 2021, https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/hell-on-hacksaw-ridge/#:~:text=Doss%2C%20the%20only%20surviving%20aid%20man%20in,to%20GIs%20below%2C%20saving%2075%20wounded%20Americans, accessed May 10, 2025

 

United States Civil Defense; Rescue Skills and Techniques TM-14-1, [Federal Civil Defense Administration, United States Government Printing Office, October 1957], page 21-22, https://books.google.com/books?id=JezBftEUj7EC&pg=PP3&dq=%22Rescue+Techniques+and+Operations+TM-14-1+%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGkYeR45KNAxUjK1kFHQ1wIf0Q6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Rescue%20Techniques%20and%20Operations%20TM-14-1%20%22&f=false, accessed May 10, 2025

 

United State Civil Defense Office; Technical Manual: TM., Issue 14, [Federal Civil Defense Administration, United States Government Printing Office, September 1952], page 21, https://books.google.com/books?id=LvvDCx5EwOkC&pg=PA20&dq=%22civil+defense%22+%22life+basket%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVmsvW4JKNAxX0EFkFHZedL0cQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22civil%20defense%22%20%22life%20basket%22&f=false, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Unknown, “Desmond Doss: The Real Story”, https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php, accessed May 17, 2025

 

U.S, Army; “Private First Class Desmond T. Doss Interview, March 20, 1987”, https://web.archive.org/web/20161108195456/http://ameddregiment.amedd.army.mil/moh/bios/dossInt.html, accessed May 17, 2025

 

van Dujin, Tina, et. al; Can analogy instructions help older people (re)learn activities of daily living?, July 2024, https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Description-of-the-bowline-knot-by-the-rabbit-analogy-Source_fig1_382735870, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Wikimedia; “Citation for PFC Desmond Doss (1944 - 1945) 10325_2006_001”, January 6, 2006, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citatie_Desmond_Doss.jpg, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Wikimedia; “Citation for PFC Desmond Doss(1944 - 1945) 10325_2006_002”, January 6, 2006, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citatie_2_Desmond_Doss.jpg, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Wikimedia; “Desmond Doss, on top of the Maeda Escarpment, Battle of Okinawa”, May 4, 1945, by United States Army, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Doss_Maeda.jpg, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Wikimedia; “The grave of Desmond Doss in the Chattanooga National Cemetery”, April 24, 2011, by Fred Bullmer, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desmond_Doss_Grave.jpg, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Wikimedia; “Doss wearing an HBT jacket with a medic’s kit bag around his neck on Okinawa”, 1945, by United States Army, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desmond_Doss_in_Okinawa.jpg, accessed May 10, 2025

 

Wikimedia, “Americans_on_Okinawa_hear_of_victory_in_Europe”, 1945 by United States Army, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Americans_on_Okinawa_hear_of_victory_in_Europe.jpg, accessed May 17, 2025

 

History vs Hollywood; “Hacksaw Ridge (2016)”, https://web.archive.org/web/20161118225423/http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/hacksaw-ridge, accessed May 17, 2025