With the 2017 Academy Awards still fresh in our memories, I thought it was fitting to highlight World War II Army Pfc. Desmond Doss, whose life and heroics were featured in the Oscar-winning film "Hacksaw Ridge."
[1]Desmond Doss is credited with saving 75 soldiers during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II in the Pacific — and he did it without ever carrying a weapon. The battle at Hacksaw Ridge, on the island of Okinawa, was a close combat fight with heavy weaponry.
Yes, Hacksaw Ridge is based on a true story, and the source material for the same has been derived from Terry Benedict's novel, The Conscientious Objector.
Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was an American United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, he refused to carry a weapon.
Desmond Thomas Doss died at his home in Piedmont, Alabama, of a respiratory ailment on 23 March 2006 and was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery, in Tennessee. Sources Consulted: Biographies (all with portraits) in Commonwealth 13 (Feb.
Desmond Doss: Incredible Faith And Heroism At 'Hacksaw Ridge'
How many soldiers died on Hacksaw Ridge?
About 2,500 Americans lost their lives and nearly twice as many Japanese troops. In the movie Hacksaw Ridge, they show Japanese soldiers killing wounded American soldiers.
On May 4, 1945, Doss spent 12 hours single-handedly retrieving and lowering wounded soldiers from the battlefield to safety, down the edge of the cliff at Hacksaw Ridge. He tried to rescue both American and Japanese soldiers, though no Japanese soldiers survived.
None of the trainees in Basic Training have the proper haircut. Tom Doss never asked his former commander to write a letter that stopped Desmond T. Doss from being court-martialed.
Originally Answered: After watching "Hacksaw Ridge", my question is why didn't the Japanese just cut that rope ladder? This question has been answered in a documentary starring the actual Desmond Doss. The japanese didn't cut the rope because that was the only entrance to the battlefield.
The Japanese liked to target corpsmen and Army medics, as well as doctors. They knew if they hurt or killed someone with medical training, they wouldn't be able to help other wounded Marines or soldiers.
Desmond Doss is credited with saving 75 soldiers during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II in the Pacific — and he did it without ever carrying a weapon.
In doing so, the Allied forces had a foothold for the planned invasion of mainland Japan. However, the development of the atomic bomb led to the surrender of Japan, meaning the war ended only a few months after the successful capture of Hacksaw Ridge.
Using cargo nets, Doss' battalion was tasked with climbing a treacherous, 400-foot-high jagged cliff, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge, to get to a plateau. Waiting for them were thousands of heavily armed Japanese soldiers entrenched in hidden caves and holes.
Real-life hero Desmond Doss saved 75 soldiers in WWII without firing a shot, as depicted in the 2016 biographical war film Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson. Despite some minor changes to the story, Hacksaw Ridge was praised by Doss's son for its historical accuracy.
His iron determination and unflagging courage resulted in at least 75 lives saved that day, May 5, 1945, his Sabbath. Eventually, the Americans took Hacksaw Ridge.
As usual on Okinawa, Japanese casualties were many times greater than the number of American lives lost. Upwards of 3,000 Japanese are believed to have died in the fight for Hacksaw Ridge.
At around the halfway mark, the fighting comes, and the film explodes into a kaleidoscope of horrors. To put it bluntly, Hacksaw Ridge contains some of the most gruesome and brutally violent mass battle scenes I've ever seen on the big screen.
In the film, Desmond's marriage to Dorothy coincides with his being imprisoned ahead of Desmond's court marshal, causing him to miss his wedding. However, in real life, Desmond was not court marshaled and was married to Dorothy before leaving for active service.
The battle scenes are very graphic, realistic, and absolutely spine chilling to watch. They are long, and filled with bloody gunfire, graphic stabbings with knives and bayonets, and many explosions which separate limbs and leave blood everywhere. Guts, limbs, intestines, and blood everywhere.
Doss successfully rescued 75 men trapped at the top of the escarpment by lowering them with a special knot he knew. He had miraculously not been wounded and stayed in the fight with B Company. On May 21, Doss was wounded several times by grenade fragments and a sniper's bullet through his arm.
Doss spent a grueling 12 hours on Hacksaw Ridge, saving the lives of 75 people, including his captain, with his acts of bravery as a combat medic. Doss deflected enemy grenades and sustained injuries but remained at the top of the cliff, refusing to leave until all injured soldiers were brought to safety.
Maeda Escarpment, a.k.a. “Hacksaw Ridge,” is now commonly recognized as part of Urasoe Castle Ruin. Urasoe City Office's website says that since the movie was released, many people have come to see the actual site where Pfc. Desmond Doss rescued 75 or more people May 5, 1945.
The battlefield, located on top of a sheer 400-foot cliff, was fortified with a deadly network of Japanese machine gun nests and booby traps. The escarpment, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge for the treacherously steep cliff, was key to winning the battle of Okinawa.
