RIP Desmond T. Doss Sr.
Sometimes the exception proves the rule. Corporal Doss served as a corpsmen in WWII and in doing so won the Medal of Honor. He was also serving as a conscientious objector because of his religious faith. He is one of only two men in US history to win our highest military decoration as a conscientious objector. Such a man is surely in heaven where he belongs.
Go read the whole story.At the time, he was in the medical detachment of the 77th Infantry Division. A battalion of his comrades was fired on by the Japanese as its members scaled a 400-foot escarpment.
Refusing cover, Mr. Doss carried each of the 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the cliff and helped lower them by rope to safety.
He continued similar rescue missions over the following days, also tending to the wounded by administering plasma as mortar fire struck around him.
During a nighttime attack May 21 near Shuri, he received injuries from a grenade blast. Instead of risking the larger mission, he spent hours nursing his wounds. Seeing a soldier in worse condition nearby, he directed help to tend to that man first.
Still in range of enemy fire, he was hit and suffered a compound fracture in an 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," his Medal of Honor citation read.
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