Posted on 10/23/2016 4:51:29 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
There is more human carnage in the first five minutes of Hacksaw Ridge than in the entirety of most any other movie you will see this year. The film’s opening sequence is a bloody ballet of bullets and flame, all played out in slow motion so that not a single spurt of blood or fleck of charred flesh is passed over by the camera. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is safe to say that Mel Gibson has in no way mellowed during his 10-year-long self-inflicted sabbatical from the director’s chair. And apparently, if the standing ovation given by the hundreds of evangelicals in attendance at the special screening I was at are any indication, there are a lot of Christians out there who will be glad he didn’t.
Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Due to a combination of traumatic childhood experiences and his deeply held beliefs as a Seventh Day Adventist, Doss adamantly refused to handle any type of firearm, much less take a human life. And yet, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the young man’s patriotism and sense of duty compelled him to enlist in the military anyway and serve his country as an Army medic.
(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...
Doss’s Medal of Honor citation:
DOSS, DESMOND T.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April-21 May 1945. Entered service at: Lynchburg, Va.
Birth: Lynchburg, Va. G.O. No.: 97, 1 November 1945.
Citation: He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave’s mouth, where he dressed his comrades’ wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers’ return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_V6h6EJh9c
DOSS, DESMOND T.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April-21 May 1945.
It doesn’t get any more heroic than that ~ apologies to Audie Murphy...
I definitely wanna see this movie.
I’ve heard this story before. It would certainly make a great movie, and Mel Gibson is the guy to do it.
I definitely wanna see this movie.
I do too. What concerns me are the Hollywood mootbats trumpeting it as an “anti-war” film.
My own vote for “Most Heroic” goes to Henry Erwin:
He was the radio operator of a B-29 airplane leading a group formation to attack Koriyama, Japan. He was charged with the additional duty of dropping phosphoresce smoke bombs to aid in assembling the group when the launching point was reached. Upon entering the assembly area, aircraft fire and enemy fighter opposition was encountered. Among the phosphoresce bombs launched by S/Sgt. Erwin, 1 proved faulty, exploding in the launching chute, and shot back into the interior of the aircraft, striking him in the face. The burning phosphoresce obliterated his nose and completely blinded him. Smoke filled the plane, obscuring the vision of the pilot. S/Sgt. Erwin realized that the aircraft and crew would be lost if the burning bomb remained in the plane. Without regard for his own safety, he picked it up and feeling his way, instinctively, crawled around the gun turret and headed for the copilot’s window. He found the navigator’s table obstructing his passage. Grasping the burning bomb between his forearm and body, he unleashed the spring lock and raised the table. Struggling through the narrow passage he stumbled forward into the smoke-filled pilot’s compartment. Groping with his burning hands, he located the window and threw the bomb out. Completely aflame, he fell back upon the floor. The smoke cleared, the pilot, at 300 feet, pulled the plane out of its dive. S/Sgt. Erwin’s gallantry and heroism above and beyond the call of duty saved the lives of his comrades.
The first time I read that I nearly cried. I’ve been in the burn ward after being severely scalded. I fought to stay conscious until the EMTs arrived. What he suffered was way worse and he actually managed to think clearly and act appropriately. Amazing.
Good find. I love that they rewarded him with a 1959 Edsel station wagon among other things.
oops wrong poster.
Good find. I love that they rewarded him with a 1959 Edsel station wagon among other things. I love those old clips of bygone days.
Some MOH citations I read, I flatter myself and say “On a good day, I could have done that”.
Erwin’s, not a chance.
Not in a million years.
God bless.
This will be the first movie in years that I will go to see in the theater to support it.
How about when cool calm hero Doss glances at the check than passes it over to his wife - whose eyes flare, looking at the zeros? Magic magic moment.
Very nice
Sounds like a latter-day Alonzo Cushing.
Can you imagine being an enemy fighting such men? You’d just have to throw down your weapon, shake your head, and go home.
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