Their Story Their Voice
Their Story Their Voice
Faith Under Fire: The Story of Desmond Doss
Today, we celebrated the incredible story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist who, despite offering to serve during World War II without a weapon due to his faith, saved 75 soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa. His acts of heroism under fire exemplify pure selflessness and redefine what it means to be a hero on the battlefield. Tune in to learn how he became the first conscientious cooperator to receive the Medal of Honor for his unwavering courage and faith-driven legacy. Be inspired, be kind, and let Desmond Doss's legacy fuel your own journey to greatness.
Please note transcription accuracy may vary.
Below are links to the materials mentioned in this episode:
https://desmonddossfoundation.org
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/conscientious-objector-awarded-medal-of-honor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5TKAJtHTNo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=C761YQ7H1YUhttps://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/private-first-class-desmond-thomas-doss-medal-of-honor#:~:text=In%201944%2C%20Doss%20shipped%20out,there%20was%20not%20his%20first.
https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Doss_Desmond_Thomas#:~:text=%22While%20I%20believe%20in%20the,a%20conscientious%20objector%2C%20Doss%20preferred
Music by:
(Neffex - A year ago)
(Neffex - dont want to let myself go)
Hi, hi, hi. Welcome to another mini episode. so much to the person who suggested that the spotlight is on this person for this episode. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The sixth commandment, thou shall not commit murder. This episode, the spotlight's on Desmond Doss, a man whose courage and faith made him a hero. He was born on the 7th of February 1919 during the Great Depression and he was raised a Seventh day Adventist. If I need to refer to this again, I'm going to shorten it to SDA. SDA is a minimalist Protestant Catholic denomination. Protestant Catholic denomination. This is actually really important to his journey, so I'm not just putting it in for the sake of it. When he was 22 years old, he was drafted into the army to serve in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, such as honouring the Sabbath, which for the SDA religion falls on the Saturday, and the Sixth Commandment, which for them is thou shall not kill, he was offered a military determinant. This meant he was not actually required to enlist. He could have actually just said, Oh, excellent. I'm going to sit this one out. But no, he chose not to, which starts giving you an idea of the person that he actually was. So he chose to enlist. And during the basic military training, he made it clear that he wouldn't take a life, he wouldn't hold a gun, referring to himself as a conscientious co operator, not objector, which he's widely referred to as a conscientious objector. No, the term conscientious objector, I believe is someone who is objecting to actually the war, like participating in the war, the Vietnamese war. For example, you had conscientious objectors who just didn't agree with the war, this wasn't the same case. He agreed with the war. He wanted to help. He believed in freedom. However, because of his religious beliefs, he was ostracised by his unit and they weren't actually very nice to him at all. They were quite mean and Did he quit and say no? I'm giving up. No, he stayed. He stayed and he would go on to prove that he was anything but a liability. He would actually be an asset. During this time, his captain, John Grover, tried to get him discharged on mental health grounds and not mental health grounds, how we refer to mental health now. When he tried to get him discharged on mental health grounds it was because they did think there was something wrong with him. Not in a nice way. It, they couldn't understand why he would refuse to hold a gun. And also, In their defence, you're going to war, you're going to be in enemy fire. You want someone beside you that I'm imagining is going to help defend you from the enemy. And with Dos saying, No, I will not kill, I will not hold a gun. They didn't want him. They didn't want him there. They actually wanted sent him back home, but he wouldn't he wouldn't let them so he carried on and Imagine being hated not just by the enemy who are trying to kill you, but also by your band of brothers. Not relevant to this at all, but because I said band of brothers, it reminded me that there's a TV show that I watched called Band of Brothers. Honestly it's one of the best shows I've ever watched about World War II. It gave me an insight that I'd never, I didn't ever have before. It was great. It's great. I highly recommend it. Okay, back on track. Then something changed. His units started to see him in different battles. His units started to see him as the medic who went out of his way to save lives and they started to have some respect for him. But the big change came. which cemented him in history in April 1945, when his unit began to see him less for liability and more of an asset, actually an extreme asset. I and this was the battle of Okinawa, this was his greatest test. There were bullets flying, flying. Bombs exploding, and even he said he shouldn't have survived. He didn't think he would survive, and his unit were ordered to retreat. But he said no. So for 12 hours, he single handedly, because he was the only medic, everyone else had retreated. Rightly so, because that was a smart thing to do. However, whilst his action at the time may not have been seen as smart, what he went on to achieve is beyond remarkable. So for 12 hours, he lowered 75 soldiers down from a 400 foot cliff. The cliff is known as Hawkshore Ridge. His words were, I couldn't leave my buddies behind. There is a film about this. He said he should have died up there, but he kept on going and he didn't stop. He kept on going, trying to get the man down this vertical cliff, in safety, away from the enemy fire, so he could actually give them the medical attention that they needed. And he knew that he wasn't able to do that whilst he was there on the cliff with all of these 130, 000 plus Japanese soldiers firing at them. He even attempted to try and help the Japanese soldiers unfortunately none of the soldiers survived. But this is what cements him in history. As being the first conscientious co operator to receive the Medal of Honor, which was awarded by President Truman, his act of kindness, driven by his faith, saved lives and redefined what it meant to be a hero on the battlefield. His legacy was pure selflessness. The battle of Okinawa has gone down in history and even at the time, but it has gone down in history as one of the. Bloodiest battles on the Pacific front. The battle lasted for 82, days. What is his legacy? His legacy is just of someone who, he wasn't Superman, he didn't have superpowers. He was just a 22 year old young man who, Driven by his faith and driven by his values, just wanted to save people and his act of kindness was so many people got to go home to their families because of him. His legacy was pure selflessness He also got to go home to Virginia to his wife and then they had a son who was actually involved in the making of Hawkshore Ridge It's estimated that approximately 2, 000 young American soldiers lost their life in the battle His legacy is to remember they died so we could live. And I, for one, will always be internally grateful for that.
Adeola:on that note, be kind to others, and most importantly, be kind to yourself.
