Conscientious Objector to be Theatrical Movie (WWII awarded Congressional Medal of Honor)

Adventist News Network ^ | February 22, 2006

[Former Military Chick]

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Story of Conscientious Objector to be Theatrical Movie

February 22, 2006 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [ANN Staff]

Nearly 60 years ago, a young Seventh-day Adventist who refused to bear arms was responsible for one of the greatest acts of heroism by a single person in combat. Now, that story is going to be developed as a major motion picture, and is expected to bring the message of non-combatancy to millions.

Desmond T. Doss, a 24-year-old medic from Lynchburg, Virginia, stayed atop a blood-soaked escarpment on the island of Okinawa on May 5, 1945, lowering down soldiers pinned under a Japanese attack. He was the only person to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States' top military award, for non-combat achievements, in the Second World War.

He rigged a rope and helped 75 soldiers escape a near-certain death during one of the more intense battles of the Pacific campaign.

"Lord, help me get one more. Just ONE more," was Doss' prayer during those hours. After the last man was evacuated, Doss himself made his way to safety.

Filmmaker Terry Benedict produced "The Conscientious Objector," a critically acclaimed documentary that told Doss' story. It has won well over a dozen film festival awards across the United States. Benedict is one of the writers for the movie, along with actor and playwright Robert Schenkkan, whose drama "The Kentucky Cycle" won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

Benedict and David Permut, an independent producer, took the project to Bill Mechanic, owner of Pandemonium Entertainment. They set up a deal with Walden Media -- who co-financed and produced "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" with Disney -- and Bristol Bay Productions.

Mechanic, Permut and Benedict will produce the project. Steve Longi will co-produce, Gregory Crosby will associate produce, and Bristol Bay executive vice president Lenny Kornberg will oversee the project.

"I'm very happy that Desmond's story is going to be done as a theatrical film," says Benedict. "I believe it'll serve an important purpose in sharing his beliefs and convictions. The world would be a better place if we all followed in his footsteps. I think the movie will become a classic."

Though known to several generations of Seventh-day Adventists, the story of Desmond Doss has only recently gained a wider audience, thanks to "The Conscientious Objector" and to media interest in his accomplishments. Doss' refusal to carry a weapon during his wartime service as an Army medic earned him harassment and catcalls from his peers in the military, but his example of service above self-interest earned him a nation's thanks, and one of its highest honors.

[ansel12]

"He did not object to serving in the war in any capacity, except that he did not want to kill anyone"

A guy like that, you believe his claim to CO status.


" those who sign up for military service under false pretenses and then wriggle out of the duty by offering politically convenient excuses to avoiding taking up arms on behalf of their country."

A guy like that, you don't believe his claim to CO status.

[Chuck54]

I also have met and talked at length with Mr. Doss.

He is the real deal and a more humble man could never be found. He has a severe hearing impairment because of all the medicines but never complained.

[50sDad]

When will Hollywood make a movie about the soldier who refused to wear the UN badge on his uniform?

[Dog Gone]

I actually misspoke upthread. I had read his book a long time ago, and I just dusted it off.

He knew he was going to get drafted, so he tried to enlist as a "non-combatant." There was no such classification at the time, but he was permitted to enlist as a CO.

Technically, he wasn't drafted.

[Ole Okie]

True, but at the CO in topic here I do not believe volunteered. So, instead of running, he found another way to serve.

The draft was instituted in 1940. A lot of men wrestled with their consciences or religious beliefs over killing others, and a fairly large number asked for conscientious objector status.

Being a CO did not exempt them from service, but they were put in positions of service which would not require them to take up arms. Many became medics, and more than shared battlefield dangers with the fighting units.

In case you're wondering, I wasn't a conscientious objector. I was dumb enough to "selectively" volunteer as a Navy combat aircrewman and aviation ordnanceman.

[Tax-chick]

Not in your lifetime or mine, I suspect.

If this story makes it to the screen, it will be interesting to see how they portray someone who refuses violence out of fervent Christian religious faith. Surely, aside from pacifism, everything the Seventh Day Adventists believe is anathema to the Hollywood elite.

[Dog Gone]

Geez, why are you assuming that every reply to you is the start of an argument?

I'm not debating you, but I wonder why you're so defensive.

Do you ever discuss issues and reply to people like it might be a normal conversation between friends?

[Al Simmons]

I may be wrong, but I recall reading that battlefield medics in WWII had horrific casualty rates equaling or exceeding those of the regular infantryman. To have done what he did, exposing himself to Jap fire until he evac'd 75 men, on Okinawa, the bloodiest US battle of WWII...well, that took GUTS...he earned his Medal of Honor as surely as Audie Murphy earned his...

[nopardons]

Same kind of thing, though....unlike today, when we have no draft.

But thanks for the clarification.

[nopardons]

Just being curt, NOT "argumentative". There IS a difference. :-)

[Dog Gone]

Okay, I can live with curt. ;-)

[nopardons]

Good. :-)

[bd476]

Doggone I'm glad you mentioned the draft. Filing this under "Ya re-learn something new everyday" I didn't remember that there had been a draft in World War II until you mentioned it.

Here's what I found:

"...The 1917 draft law prohibited enlistment bounties and personal substitution, but did authorize deferments on the grounds of dependency or essential work in industry or agriculture. It allowed religious conscientious objectors (COs) to choose noncombatant service within the military. The law was implemented through a Selective Service System, composed of a national headquarters—commanded by a major general—and some four thousand local draft boards staffed by civilian volunteers who decided on the induction or deferment of particular individuals within overall national guidelines.

In 1917 and 1918, Selective Service registered and classified 23.9 million men, eighteen to forty-five, and drafted 2.8 million of them. In all, 72 percent of the wartime army of 3.5 million troops was raised through conscription.

There was no repetition of the Civil War draft riots. Aside from a few violent episodes and a number of antidraft demonstrations, opposition was expressed mainly through criticism and evasion. Between 2 and 3 million men apparently never registered, and 338,000 (12 percent of those drafted) failed to report when called or deserted after arrival at training camp. In addition, 64,700 registrants sought CO status. Of the 20,900 COs drafted into the army, 4,000 refused to participate in any military role, and 450 "absolutists" were sent to prison. In 1918, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that national conscription was constitutional.

In World War II, the fall of France in 1940 led Congress to adopt the nation's first prewar conscription act as a result of a campaign headed by old preparedness leaders. The draft was to run through 1945, but because of intense opposition from pacifists, isolationists, and others, the draftees (aged twenty-one to thirty-five) were obligated to serve only one year, and service was restricted to the Western Hemisphere and U.S. territories.

In August 1941, however, Congress, by a one-vote margin (203-202) in the House, voted to keep the one-year draftees in the Army beyond their term. After Pearl Harbor, the lawmakers removed all remaining restrictions and extended the draft to men aged eighteen to thirty-eight (and briefly to forty-five) for the duration.

Approximately 10 million men were drafted through the Selective Service System, and nearly 6 million enlisted, primarily in the U.S. Navy and Army Air Corps.

There was some discontent. Some 72,000 registrants applied for CO status, of whom 25,000 entered the army in noncombatant service, another 12,000 went to civilian work camps, and 20,000 had their claims rejected.

Ultimately, 6,000, the majority of them Jehovah's Witnesses, were imprisoned. Some antidraft incidents in Chicago and other cities stemmed from protest by African-Americans against discrimination and segregation in the armed forces. Draft evasion did not disappear. The Justice Department investigated 373,000 alleged evaders and obtained convictions of 16,000.

The draft did not end with World War II. Except for a brief hiatus between 1947 and 1948, it helped maintain throughout the cold war a sizable number of men in the armed forces (a mix of volunteers, conscripts, and draft-induced volunteers).

During the Korean War, 1.5 million men, eighteen to twenty-five, were drafted; another 1.3 million volunteered, primarily for the navy and air force. Discontent led to an increase in COs (the percentage of inductees exempted as COs grew to nearly 1.5 percent, compared to .15 in each world war). Some 80,000 draft evasion cases were investigated..."

Excerpt from The Reader's Companion to American History Conscription

[Dog Gone]

Thanks for finding that.

Doss really took a lot of crap from his fellow soldiers at first. There were no "diversity and inclusion moments" or sensitivity training in those days.

But he proved himself no coward in the battles in the Pacific and they weren't dissing him when he risked nearly certain death to save his fellow soldiers.

You don't have to share his CO philosophy to respect and admire what he did. It was every bit as heroic as was done by any soldier with a rifle. Unlike John Kerry, he earned that medal and was a great man on a personal level.

I don't think he's passed away yet, but last time I saw him he was looking somewhat frail.

[Howe_D_Dewty]

Does anyone know what "non combat achievement " means?I believe there were some Chaplains who received the CMH.Are they considered "combat achieevements".I am somewhat confused.Thanks..

[Feiny]

Sounds like a good man & a good movie.

[El Gato]

I can't stomach the whole CO thing. Its a copout to avoid sharing the responsibilities of citizenship.

So being a combat medic isn't' "sharing the responsibilities of citizenship"?. I would beg to differ.

Running off to Canada, because you couldn't swing "alternate service", such a the public health service, or some Americorps type thing, that's ducking responsibility because of cowardice. Getting your a$$ in the grass with the rest of the troops, and unarmed to boot, is not.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

I just read an account of the unpleasantness during the F&I war. True to their faith, the Quakers did not take up arms or physically help in the defense of PA, but, they put their purses to work by hiring others to dig trenches and build fortifications. (:>)

[El Gato]

When will Hollywood make a movie about the soldier who refused to wear the UN badge on his uniform?

You don't want them to make a movie about him, believe me you don't. I don't believe you'd like their portrayal.

If they can turn Muslim Terrorists into some kind of European Christian neo-Nazi(Clancy's Sum of All fears, book vs. Hollywierd Movie), they'll slice and dice your boy to the point where you might not recognize the story, if they didn't use his name.

[marron]

There is such a thing as, legitimately, a conscientious objector.

And there are unjust wars that no one should consent to be part of. And people of good will can disagree on these issues. Just think about who our next commander-in-chief might be, and you can imagine ways that our military might be used, that you could not in conscience be a part of.

But, to continue a thought from another thread, I tend to doubt the sincerity of a soldier who volunteered, and then "unvolunteered" when their unit was about to deploy. In that case, whether your change of heart is sincere or insincere, in the interest of unit discipline, prepare to serve your time behind bars.

One of the key elements of civil disobedience is that you prove your sincerity by doing your time in jail without complaint.