It’s April 1945 on the Island of Okinawa.
The 77th division are bivouacked at the bottom of the 400 ft high Maeda escarpment.
The escarpment is made up of a steep incline across boulders and rough terrain
with the last 35 feet a straight vertical.
At some places there is even an overhang.
The top of the escarpment is around 75 yards wide
and then it slopes off along the back.
Looking up at the hill,
medic, 26-year-old Desmond Doss looks at the impossible challenge ahead.
The 77th have been told to take the hill at any cost.
Desmond however won’t be firing a shot in the coming battle.
A deeply religious man,
Desmond had joined up in the Army with the firm conviction that thou shalt not kill.
Desmond had already been recommended awards
for his extreme bravery under fire in both Guam and Leyte.
In the war in the pacific,
being a medic made you even more of a target from enemy fire than a regular soldier.
Initially being mistreated and ridiculed for his unwillingness to carry a weapon,
Desmond had won the respect and admiration from his brothers in the field
with his determination to save every wounded man
regardless of the personal danger it put him in.
The Japanese are dug in all over the hill with a network of caves and tunnels.
Some made up of 3 stories connected by ladders deep within the hill.
Lieutenant Gornto asked Doss and 2 other men to attach cargo nets and ladders
to the vertical face.
The 3 set out under cover of darkness, climbed the cliff
and tied them securely to the coral rocks on the top edge of the Maeda escarpment.
Returning the Lieutenant said: “Good job, fellows.
It will sure help us get up and down a lot easier – and safer I hope…”
In the morning of what was to become known as miracle day,
the Lieutenant addressed his men in company B:
“Those cargo nets are up, so we can get up on top more easily.
Do your best men!”
Desmond rushed over and said,
“The men should really pray before they go up”,
intending the men to pray for themselves.
Instead the Lieutenant said,
“Gather round men, Doss wants to pray for us.”
Desmond prayed.
Companies A and B started the assault of the Maeda escarpment.
Reaching the top, company A was immediately pinned down with many fallen.
Company B was given the order to take the hill alone.
Moving from pillbox to pillbox,
they proceeded to take out 9 pillboxes on that day
and returned back without a single man killed and only one injured.
An incredible event given the circumstances,
headquarters were interested in how it was achieved.
Company B sent back the message: “Doss Prayed.”
The signal corps sent a photographer to take Doss’ picture from the top of the escarpment.
Over the days the battle continued
and the entrenched Japanese defended the hill taking a toll on the American forces.
On May 5th Captain Vernon approached Doss.
Doss was a 7th Day Adventist and in his religion it was the Sabbath
and so the Captain said: “Doss,
would you mind going up on the escarpment today?
You are the only medic we have left and we really need you.”
Doss requested he could finish his reading to which the Captain replied:
“We’ll wait for you.”
When he was ready, the 155 remaining men in Company B set up the cliff.
Things didn’t go to plan.
Heaving satchel charges into the Japanese positions,
the enemy pulled out the fuses before the charges went off.
The men then threw gasoline followed by a grenade.
At that point a massive explosion occurred
as a Japanese ammunition store deep within the hill went off.
Like angry hornets the remaining Japanese defenders took this as a signal
to redouble their efforts and swarmed out of every position simultaneously.
Firing upon the Americans the US forces were cut down
and the order to retreat was given as they were swept from the ridge.
Tending to the wounded Doss found himself alone at the top
as the last of his comrades that were able to scramble down the nets.
Doss tended to a wounded man.
He was badly hurt,
Desmond dragged him to the edge of the cliff, found a rope
and tied him into a stretcher and lowered the man to the ground.
It took some time and to lower him took colossal effort.
At the bottom of the cargo nets 35 feet below, Desmond shouted down,
“Get him to the aid station pronto”.
The soldiers did what they were told.
At this point realizing the time it took and needing to find a quicker solution,
he remembered the bowline knot.
He grabbed another injured man and formed a bowline,
putting the man’s legs between the loops and doubled the rope
and tied it around the man’s chest.
He noticed a blasted tree stump,
and wound the rope around it to give him leverage.
Letting the next man down to the amazed soldiers below,
Desmond knew what he had to do.
Praying “Lord, help me get one more”, he went to work.
Dodging enemy fire, grabbing the injured, dragging them to the edge,
lowering them down and praying “Lord, help me get one more”.
It took him 5 hours.
In total he saved over 75 men on the escarpment
that was to be known as Hacksaw Ridge.
When all the injured had been recovered
Doss climbed down, uninjured.
2 weeks later Desmond was accompanying soldiers on a night mission into Japanese territory
when he was hit by a grenade damaging his leg.
He and another soldier who was hit in the shoulder
crawled to the US territory and created a shallow hole to see out the night.
After daybreak the stretcher bearers came to pick up the wounded.
Loading Desmond onto a stretcher they set off for the aid station.
While en route, they came across a man with a head injury.
Doss knew the soldier should be priority and made the medics stop,
rolled off the stretcher and told the medics to take the more heavily injured man.
Doss tried to crawl and walk back with another injured soldier,
a friend called Brooks.
At that point he was hit in the arm by an enemy sniper.
Doss demanded Brooks’ rifle.
Surprised as Desmond had never touched a rifle before,
he handed it over.
Forming a splint with the rifle he patched up his arm
and almost made it to the medical station before passing out.
He woke up in hospital after the Doctors had to perform surgery
removing 17 pieces of shrapnel in the process.
The military estimated that Doss saved more than 100 men
on that incredible day on Hacksaw Ridge.
Doss modestly said,
"It couldn’t have been more than 50."
The medal of honor citation that he received for his action reads that he saved 75.
Giving him the medal during the ceremony on the Whitehouse lawn,
President Truman shook the hand of Corporal Desmond Doss,
and held it the entire time his citation was read aloud.
He said to Doss,
"I'm proud of you. You really deserve this.
I consider this a greater honor than being president."
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