THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO WON THE MEDAL OF HONOR

Last night Jim and I watched a fascinating documentary about a man named Desmond Doss.  Desmond Doss, like thousands of other young men, enlisted in the military shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The difference between Doss and the others is that he enlisted as a conscientious objector.  He passionately wanted to serve his country, but he made it clear from the start that he would not take the life of a fellow man and he would not carry any weapons.  His plan was to become a medic so that he could save life and not take it. 

So (and if you ever you served in the military, you’ll appreciate the irony of this), the Army assigned him, not as a medic, but to the infantry division. The idea seemed to be that if he was forced to do so, Doss would have to use a weapon to defend himself.  But the Army hadn’t reckoned on the tenacity of Doss’s convictions. 

Doss was a Christian and as such, he firmly believed in and obeyed the 10 Commandments given by God to Moses (see the book of Exodus, chapter 18 in the Bible), in this case the one that said, “You shall not kill”.  Carrying a weapon presumed you'd be ready to use it if necessary.

Under extreme pressure from commanding officers, one of which demanded that Doss take a rifle from his hands or be court martialed, Doss stood firm.  Not even threats to run him out of the Army, or abuse from fellow soldiers could turn his resolve.  In the end, the Army relented, trained him as a medic and even allowed him to forgo wearing a 45 pistol as a side arm. 

Doss carried out his plan “to save life and not take it” well.  A fellow soldier described how at night, after a day of fierce battle when the men were told to hunker down in foxholes, Doss would crawl from hole to hole treating injured men. But it was in the battle on Okinawa in the South Pacific that Doss supremely distinguished himself. 

The military was assigned the task of taking a ridge occupied by the Japanese.  The battle raged for days with the US army taking the ridge and then losing it again, with great loss of life. Men who served with Doss described how, with bullets whizzing through the air and wounded men falling all around, Doss crawled out onto the battlefield, dragging injured men to the edge of the ridge and then over it to safety.  When all was said and done, he had done this for 75 men without regard for his own life, even saving some of the men who had been so hard on him before for not carrying a weapon.

Others described how at later time, when Doss himself was wounded, he insisted in getting up off the stretcher on which he was being carried in order to dress the wounds of another injured man on the battlefield.

As a result of his heroism, Desmond Doss was recommended for commendation and awarded the Medal of Honor. Throughout his entire time of service he had never lifted a weapon even to defend himself.

One of the questions some of the men who served with him asked while describing the extraordinary sacrifices Doss was willing to make for others was, “Why would anyone do that?”.  The answer is: For love.

Desmond Doss’s story is a love story.  It’s the story of an ordinary man’s love for an extraordinary God.  It’s the story of an ordinary man’s conviction to demonstrate that love through obedience to God’s Word, unwaveringly, and at great cost to himself. And it's the story of an ordinary man following His Savior in pouring out love and service to his fellow man.

But it isn’t Desmond’s story.  It’s God’s story, a story He lived out more than 2000 years ago.

It’s the story of a God who so loved the world that He gave the best that He had – His own son.  And it’s the story of the Son who, out of love and obedience to His Father, laid down His own life for the lives of others. At great cost, so that men and women whose faith rests in Him might not die, but live eternally.

Desmond Doss was an ordinary man who lived his entire life in relationship with Jesus. Desmond Doss determined to follow Jesus in obedience.  In doing so, he lived an extraordinary life of purpose, demonstrating the love of God in his care for others at great cost to himself, and bringing glory and honor to the God who saved him.

That’s the kind of life I want to live, don’t you?