Army medic ignored gunfire, exploding mortar shells, blood-soaked mud, bodies and even commands from his superiors as he returned to the battlefield on a ridge in Okinawa, Japan, to help any wounded men he could. Over a 12-hour period on April 30, 1945, the Lynchburg, Virginia-native U.S. Part of his story is the abuse he took from his fellow soldiers. Refusing to carry a gun or to work on Saturdays did not endear him to his fellow soldiers or commanding officers. He vowed to follow all of them, including 'Thou shalt not kill' and 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,' which for Seventh-day Adventists is Saturday.

He also was deeply moved as a child by a framed illustration of the Ten Commandments that hung in his family's home. He could have taken a deferment because of his job at the Newport News naval shipyard, but he chose to go, even though he had sworn as a boy to never touch a gun after witnessing his father pull one on his uncle during an alcohol-influenced fight.

That's why he rejected it.ĭesmond Thomas Doss enlisted into the U.S. His peers who were also awarded with the Medal of Honor understood the violence of war and accepted what they felt was necessary to be victorious, to come out on the right side of a battle.ĭoss understood the violence. Desmond Doss is different from many war heroes.

Medal of honor weapons