5 Photograph of Private First-Class Desmond T. So, he refused to be discharged, to which the committee agreed that Washington wouldn’t allow them to discharge him based on his beliefs. He stated that he could not be discharged because of his religion or declared mentally insane, because he wanted to go to church and that he would be a poor Christian if he accepted this discharge without it being true. They tried to discharge him with a Section Eight, claiming that he was mentally insane. After this incident, Doss was court-martialed, and they tried to find a way to get him discharged. Here Desmond faced the challenge of many others telling him that he couldn’t go to church and that he would have to work on his Sabbath, to which he refused and went anyways. 3 Desmond didn’t face many problems in the beginning, but when his Unit was shipped out to Fort Sill, Desmond began to face many challenges. When commanded by an Army Lieutenant during his time at Fort Jackson to take a carbine, Doss told the Lieutenant that he would rather put his trust in the Lord than in a carbine. His Captain refused to let him leave, but he always got around him by talking to Chaplain Stanley, a man who understood his need to go to church. He believed that God would protect him in every way possible, and that he would therefore never need a weapon. He faced many obstacles in trying to get leave to go to church. Because he was an Adventist, he could not work on Saturdays, because it was his Sabbath and he needed leave to attend church. When he arrived at boot camp and got all his gear, he was excited to be able to serve his country, but was unprepared for what was to come. On April 1, 1942, he was sent to boot camp with the 307th Infantry in the 77th Division, where he would always be through out his military career as a medic. 2ĭoss eventually got called to join the Army. Once drafted, many were sent to either the European theater of war or to the Pacific Theater. The military draft had already been instituted before the war (and in case of war), and millions of men were called up to fight. The US first declared war against the Empire of Japan, and then, after Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States, it declared war against all of the Axis Powers. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor sank multiple ships and killed thousands of Americans, prompting the United States to enter the war. Then came Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, which escalated the war to its global dimensions. Hitler had taken the war to the French and British in 1940, and then to the Soviet Union in 1941. 1īefore Doss joined the Army, World War II had already begun in Europe. Doss’s devotion to his religion led him to refuse to ever carry a gun for any reason. Doss was considered a conscientious objector, or a person who refused to bear arms while he served in the military because of his religious beliefs. Desmond Doss, a man devoted to his religion and to God, chose to do something that most people wouldn’t understand during a time of war: he chose not to handle a weapon or to ever use one while he served. The Adventist church taught its members that they shouldn’t join the military or be violent in any way towards anyone, as they believe in being totally non-violent. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3: 5-6) This was the favorite saying from the Bible that Desmond Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist, chose to live by during his service time in World War II. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
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