Post by Ghost on Nov 11, 2009 21:16:31 GMT -5
War hero opposed to guns dies at 87
He was awarded Medal of Honor
By BILL TORPY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/25/06
On April 29, 1945, Desmond T. Doss, a 126-pound Army private, repeatedly braved ferocious Japanese fire to lower wounded soldier after wounded soldier down a cliff to safety.
Officers who later documented his many heroics at the Battle of Okinawa claimed Doss moved at least 100 men to safety that day. Doss contended it was no more than 50. They compromised on 75, and that's how it is forever listed on his Medal of Honor citation.
Doss, 87, a meek and humble man who refused to pick up a rifle yet won the military's highest award for heroism, died Thursday in Piedmont, Ala.
He had lived at Rising Fawn, in northwest Georgia, for many years.
Doss, a devout Seventh-day Adventist, was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor.
"You might say that I was a noncombatant rather than a conscientious objector, although that's the status my draft board gave me," he once told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"He was an inspiration for several generations of young people," said Ed Wright, president of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. "He was an icon, a principled person of courage. The attention never went to his head. He was always a little embarrassed by it."
Doss always enjoyed working with youth groups and "children seemed to flock around him," said John Swafford of Calhoun, an Adventist minister who met Doss 52 years ago in Chattanooga. "His son was passing around his Medal of Honor at a church," Swafford said.
Doss, a handyman who helped build an Adventist church in Rising Fawn, was a charter member of a new church that had opened this month in Piedmont. Doss, who had been in failing health, moved to Piedmont in late 2004 to be near the family of his second wife, Frances Duman Doss.
His first wife, Dorothy Shutte Doss, died in a car accident in 1991. Doss met her when she came to his hometown, Lynchburg, Va., selling books for the Adventist Church.
Doss was drafted into the Army during World War II. The Adventists believe in not bearing arms and observing the Sabbath on Saturday.
He was ridiculed and scorned by officers and enlisted men for refusing to work on that day. Some threw shoes at him while he prayed at his bunk and one told him, "Doss, if we ever get into combat, I am going to kill you."
He became a medic whose heroics on Okinawa are the stuff of legend and was cited for repeated acts of bravery from April 29 to May 21, 1945.
His work began on April 29, the skinny medic using a rope-supported stretcher to lower dozens of wounded men to safety down a 400-foot cliff.
On May 2, he subjected himself to heavy fire to rescue five more men.
On May 5, a Saturday, Doss ignored heavy shelling to treat a wounded artillery officer. Later that day, he crawled to a wounded soldier just yards from an enemy position and carried him 100 yards to safety, again amid gunfire.
On May 21, he was seriously wounded in the legs by a grenade and waited five hours for others to carry him to cover. But after seeing a critically injured soldier, Doss crawled off his own stretcher and directed medics to the man. He was later shot in the arm, fracturing it.
His injuries also caused the removal of a lung.
President Harry S. Truman awarded him the medal on Oct. 12, 1945. Truman said at the time, "I consider this a greater honor then being president."
Years later, Doss explained his heroics with one word: "Love. I loved my men and they loved me. I just couldn't give them up, just like a mother couldn't give up a child."
Another time, he said, "I didn't feel like it was right for me to value my life above the lives of my buddies."
A 1959 news feature headlined "He was called a coward but won the Medal of Honor" talked about the "tough little soldier of mercy" who still carried "a shattered arm and scarred lungs."
"A cabinetmaker before the war, he has added three rooms to his mountaintop log cabin," the article reported. It said he had recently appeared on the popular TV show "This Is Your Life" and received a set of tools from the show, a station wagon, a tractor and $1,000 to add to his five acres.
He apparently put the money to that use, because a 1987 news story said he enjoyed tending to his 12-acre yard.
Swafford said Doss moved to the northwest Georgia mountains after going to a treatment center there for his war wounds. The isolated area was perfect for him, Swafford said. "His life was uncomplicated. His belief in God was uncomplicated."
In 1967, a book, "The Unlikeliest Hero," told the story of his life. He resisted offers to retell his story on the big screen, although a documentary film about him, "The Conscientious Objector," was produced in 1996.
On April 3, Doss will join six other Medal of Honor recipients buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.
The funeral is to be held at 3 p.m. April 1 at the Collegedale, Tenn., Seventh-day Adventist Church. Heritage Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe is in charge of arrangements.
Survivors other than his wife include a son, Desmond T. Doss Jr.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
He was awarded Medal of Honor
By BILL TORPY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/25/06
On April 29, 1945, Desmond T. Doss, a 126-pound Army private, repeatedly braved ferocious Japanese fire to lower wounded soldier after wounded soldier down a cliff to safety.
Officers who later documented his many heroics at the Battle of Okinawa claimed Doss moved at least 100 men to safety that day. Doss contended it was no more than 50. They compromised on 75, and that's how it is forever listed on his Medal of Honor citation.
Doss, 87, a meek and humble man who refused to pick up a rifle yet won the military's highest award for heroism, died Thursday in Piedmont, Ala.
He had lived at Rising Fawn, in northwest Georgia, for many years.
Doss, a devout Seventh-day Adventist, was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor.
"You might say that I was a noncombatant rather than a conscientious objector, although that's the status my draft board gave me," he once told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"He was an inspiration for several generations of young people," said Ed Wright, president of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. "He was an icon, a principled person of courage. The attention never went to his head. He was always a little embarrassed by it."
Doss always enjoyed working with youth groups and "children seemed to flock around him," said John Swafford of Calhoun, an Adventist minister who met Doss 52 years ago in Chattanooga. "His son was passing around his Medal of Honor at a church," Swafford said.
Doss, a handyman who helped build an Adventist church in Rising Fawn, was a charter member of a new church that had opened this month in Piedmont. Doss, who had been in failing health, moved to Piedmont in late 2004 to be near the family of his second wife, Frances Duman Doss.
His first wife, Dorothy Shutte Doss, died in a car accident in 1991. Doss met her when she came to his hometown, Lynchburg, Va., selling books for the Adventist Church.
Doss was drafted into the Army during World War II. The Adventists believe in not bearing arms and observing the Sabbath on Saturday.
He was ridiculed and scorned by officers and enlisted men for refusing to work on that day. Some threw shoes at him while he prayed at his bunk and one told him, "Doss, if we ever get into combat, I am going to kill you."
He became a medic whose heroics on Okinawa are the stuff of legend and was cited for repeated acts of bravery from April 29 to May 21, 1945.
His work began on April 29, the skinny medic using a rope-supported stretcher to lower dozens of wounded men to safety down a 400-foot cliff.
On May 2, he subjected himself to heavy fire to rescue five more men.
On May 5, a Saturday, Doss ignored heavy shelling to treat a wounded artillery officer. Later that day, he crawled to a wounded soldier just yards from an enemy position and carried him 100 yards to safety, again amid gunfire.
On May 21, he was seriously wounded in the legs by a grenade and waited five hours for others to carry him to cover. But after seeing a critically injured soldier, Doss crawled off his own stretcher and directed medics to the man. He was later shot in the arm, fracturing it.
His injuries also caused the removal of a lung.
President Harry S. Truman awarded him the medal on Oct. 12, 1945. Truman said at the time, "I consider this a greater honor then being president."
Years later, Doss explained his heroics with one word: "Love. I loved my men and they loved me. I just couldn't give them up, just like a mother couldn't give up a child."
Another time, he said, "I didn't feel like it was right for me to value my life above the lives of my buddies."
A 1959 news feature headlined "He was called a coward but won the Medal of Honor" talked about the "tough little soldier of mercy" who still carried "a shattered arm and scarred lungs."
"A cabinetmaker before the war, he has added three rooms to his mountaintop log cabin," the article reported. It said he had recently appeared on the popular TV show "This Is Your Life" and received a set of tools from the show, a station wagon, a tractor and $1,000 to add to his five acres.
He apparently put the money to that use, because a 1987 news story said he enjoyed tending to his 12-acre yard.
Swafford said Doss moved to the northwest Georgia mountains after going to a treatment center there for his war wounds. The isolated area was perfect for him, Swafford said. "His life was uncomplicated. His belief in God was uncomplicated."
In 1967, a book, "The Unlikeliest Hero," told the story of his life. He resisted offers to retell his story on the big screen, although a documentary film about him, "The Conscientious Objector," was produced in 1996.
On April 3, Doss will join six other Medal of Honor recipients buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.
The funeral is to be held at 3 p.m. April 1 at the Collegedale, Tenn., Seventh-day Adventist Church. Heritage Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe is in charge of arrangements.
Survivors other than his wife include a son, Desmond T. Doss Jr.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
