Desmond Doss

“Heroes arrive when we need them most. They define us and point us in a direction” (Granger).

In his essay “Boy do we ever need a hero,” David Granger claims that heroes serve as role models after which we may form our lives. He believes that we will always need heroes because we will always seek role models. I understand that heroes indeed serve as good role models for the character traits they display, which develop from a person’s experience. Sometimes these virtues take years to emerge, and other times they appear after one significant event causes the person to grow. Though a person may possess the full gamut of virtues, however, these qualities are no good unless they are tested and put to good use. Not only must others benefit from a person’s actions, but also the desire to promote oneself must not adulterate his motivation to help others. I believe our search for a hero originates in the fall of man, by which we are separated from our divine Creator, and His infinite power, beauty, and perfection. Thus in our lives we search for the ideal, the good and the pure embodiment of love. Among the traits a hero possesses are courage, the tendency of a person to take risks to accomplish goals, and integrity, the adherence to one’s moral code in the face of danger or derision.

Preparing BandagesCourtesy of desmonddoss.com          One such person who risked his life to provide steadfast protection to his fellow soldiers and lived faithfully to his belief of what was right and wrong was Desmond Doss. Born on February 7, 1919, Desmond Doss grew up as the second of three children in a faithful Seventh-day Adventist family. Young Doss often gazed at a painting of the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments that hung in his family’s household. This painting persuaded Doss to keep the Fourth Commandment, Thou shall keep the Lord’s day holy, and the Sixth Commandment, Thou shall not kill. He never worked on Saturdays or picked up a gun to shoot with it. When the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Doss felt obligated to defend his country, registering for the combat medic position as a conscientious objector, a soldier that did not have to carry weapons. During training the other soldiers ridiculed Doss for his faith, but while they fought on the battlefield, faced with impending death and having experienced death and horrific loss of body and limbs, they observed Doss’s demeanor in saving lives in abnormal and risky circumstances. They saw that he felt protected by his God, and they wanted to have that assurance of safety so much so that they even asked him to pray for them. When the Japanese beat his battalion down an escarpment in Okinawa, Doss remained on top of the cliff and lowered all the wounded using his own strength and a knotted rope; it was for this manifestation of sound courage and steadfast dedication to the protection of his fellow soldiers that he initially won the Medal of Honor. Days later, while Doss was with other soldiers, a Japanese grenade landed at their feet. When the grenade detonated and injured Doss’s legs, he treated his wounds instead of calling other medics for help. While other soldiers were bringing him towards the American camp the next day, the Japanese attacked Doss’s group. Doss, seeing a soldier with a head wound, rolled off his litter so the other soldier could take his place. After sustaining a gunshot wound to his arm, he crawled 300 yards to an aid station. These manifestations of his courage and his integrity were later added to Doss’s Medal of Honor citation. To clarify what is meant by these traits, courageous people sacrifice themselves or things that they possess to support a higher cause. People with integrity practice good morality, no matter what it is they stand to lose. Often this obligation to do what is right is founded upon a faithful motivation to practice one’s beliefs. This foundation is stronger when it is grounded on religion. Through his courageous sacrifice of himself and his integrity in the pressures of society and war, Desmond Doss merits the title “hero”.

On the Maeda EscarpmentCourtesy of history.blogberth.com          Because he was courageous, Desmond Doss did not take the easy way to success, but rather took the way he viewed as correct. In this way, he was able to become a greater person, worthy to be called “hero”. According to Frances M. Doss’s book Desmond Doss: Conscientious Objector: The story of an unlikely hero, Doss signed up for the military during World War II. He initially was asked to apply for the conscientious objector status so he could serve as a non-combatant off the battlefield. Doss did not accept this status: “They [the conscientious objectors] demonstrated against the government, and they would not salute the flag, wear a military uniform, or do anything to help the war effort. He didn’t want to be lumped with them” (F. Doss, pg 44). To Doss, a conscientious objector would be somebody who had found an excuse, an easy way out of serving his country. Seeing this, Doss did not want to take the conscientious objector title because he wanted to serve and contribute to his country as much as all the other soldiers. This meant Doss would go to the battlefield, where the enemy would shoot him from all angles. This would be a difficult task for Doss, because he would have no means to defend himself and incapacitate the enemy, but it was the best way for him to serve his country. As Michael E. Telzrow’s article “Desmond Doss: His Only Weapon Was His Conscience” relates, he went above and beyond his assigned combat medic role, risking his own life to save the soldiers fighting in the Pacific:

While three other soldiers in Company B of the 307th Infantry scrambled for shelter in a foxhole, Army Company Aid Man, Private First Class Desmond Doss attempted to kick the deadly projectile away with his heavy combat boot. He had only one thought in his mind, and that was to protect his beloved men. (Telzrow)

Doss put the lives of his fellow soldiers over his own when he was trying to kick the grenade away from his fellow soldiers instead of running from it himself. He knew he was endangering his own life, a fact that would strike fear in the heart of any person, but he went towards the grenade anyway so that he would continue to accomplish his goal of saving others. Doss overcame the fears he had in risking his life not for the sake of sacrificing himself, but for the sake of doing what was right.

          Doss’s devotion to his God and his resulting integrity permitted him to do what was right during times of temptation or trouble. Returning to Frances Doss’s biography, Desmond Doss remembered his grandmother asking him to drown the kittens of her cats and the strays that socialized with them. When he dumped the kittens into a nearby river, he immediately regretted letting them drown: “He couldn’t remember now whether he ever received the seven cents, but from that time on he would never drown a cat no matter how much money he was offered” (38). When he drowned his grandmother’s kittens, Doss realized that he valued doing what was right over getting money for doing what was wrong. He was not indifferent to what he believed was right or wrong, and lived out his beliefs even when tempted to do otherwise. This meant that Doss wanted to protect his God’s creatures, whether they were humans or animals, for God’s sake. In a letter home to his parents from the Pacific, Desmond wrote about his prayers during the Sabbath of March 24, reflecting on what he learned from the Bible and his psalms, and the significance of this knowledge to him: “One thing the Sabbath school lesson brought out that impressed me is that if these experiences in the Army do not make us good Christians, nothing will. If we do not live up to all we know to be right, then we are not Christians” (D. Doss). This is Doss’s definition of a good Christian, that he must profess and defend his faith. This influenced how he thought and how he acted. The desire to please his God, not the desire to attract publicity, compelled Doss to do what was right. Desmond Doss’s integrity, founded upon his devotion to God, governed much of how he acted in such a way that we may look up to him.

Receiving the Medal of HonorCourtesy of desmonddoss.com          Desmond Doss deserves that others call him a hero because he risked his life to protect his friends and his country, and because he remained true to what he believed was right. Doss manifested his courage in refusing to take any route other than the correct route to success. He was protecting his fellow soldiers and his country solely because he felt obligated to defend these. Throughout the war, Doss saved at least 75 people without using a gun or injuring anybody else. This is a testament to Doss’s devotion to God, which is the origin of his integrity. As a bright young adolescent who loves God, I seek the example of another person who possesses virtues, talents, or material gifts given by the Creator, and puts them to good use helping others as an extension of oneself. I believe that people’s circumstances, what they have acquired and what they have yet to find, do not affect how heroic they become. It is not only wrong, but also sinful to believe that one can be great simply based upon what one knows, what one possesses, what one believes in, or what one plans to accomplish.

According to a Gale database article retrieved from the Washington Times, Desmond Doss showed that he also believed that this was true when he refused to accept a Section 8 discharge for those mentally unfit to fight:

The Army considered discharging him, but Desmond objected. I'd be a very poor Christian if I accepted a discharge implying that I was mentally off because of my religion, he told the review board. I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I can't accept that kind of a discharge. (Washington Times)

Doss would not imply that he was denying his faith, because it would be wrong, and his actions would contradict what he believed in. Instead, Doss insisted on doing what he believed was right based on his knowledge concerning moral conduct. It is this standing up for what is right, instead of folding to what is pleasing to society, that permits people to become extraordinary. Though I am not a Seventh-day Adventist, I observe that Desmond Doss in his faith disposed himself to use his gifts to others’ benefit. He inspires me to treat others with kindness and help them always, in the meantime applying myself and my ability to think in ways that help others, such as walking another student through a math problem, or teaching a class so that younger children might learn more about science. David Granger believes that “as long as we need examples of how to live, as long as we aspire, we will never be too old for heroes” (Granger). We will always need role models, especially those that live in great virtue. Without these role models we would not have a basis on which to evaluate and maintain our lives. Without this basis it would grow difficult for virtue to thrive, and our world would soon become a troubled place. Therefore, to keep our world stable, with good-hearted people in it, we must keep in mind that “[b]oy, do we ever need a hero” (Granger).

Works Cited

Admin. “Desmond Doss: a Letter from War.” Faith of Doss, 5 Dec 2016, https://faithofdoss.com/desmond-doss-letter-war/. Seventh Day Adventist Church, accessed 5 Jan. 2018.

Doss, Frances M. Desmond Doss Conscientious Objector The story of an unlikely hero. Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2017.

"Hero without a gun; A Medal of Honor Day tribute to Desmond T. Doss." Washington Times [Washington, DC], 25 Mar. 2011, p. B02. Biography in Context. Gale. DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. Accessed 4 Jan. 2018.

Telzrow, Michael E. “Desmond Doss: His Only Weapon Was His Conscience.” The New American, 3 November 2016. https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/24488-desmond-doss-his-only-weapon-was-his-conscience. Accessed 4 Jan 2018.