Reviews and Endorsements
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[ Bookshelf Review ]
- There’s an old cliché about truth being stranger than fiction, and if you didn’t know the remarkable true story of Private Desmond Doss—who served in World War II as a medic who refused to carry a gun or take life and became the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor—you’d be excused for thinking it was made up. It seems so unlikely.
Not only did Private Doss choose to serve in the United States Army (he liked to consider himself a “conscientious cooperator” instead of a conscientious objector) despite facing ridicule and exclusion for his religious principles and practices, but he went on to become a hero, demonstrating incredible bravery in saving the lives of 75 men after one battle on Hacksaw Ridge on the Pacific island of Okinawa, single-handedly dragging them to safety.
The 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector is told predominantly in Doss’s own words, as well as those of the veterans who served with him, all of whom have now passed away. Doss was an astonishingly humble man who, even as an old man at the time the documentary was made, held true to the Bible’s principles and the Seventh-day Adventist faith that sustained him throughout his military service. It’s clear that Doss lived a life dedicated to service—both for others and the God he believed in so strongly.
The admiration and respect his fellow soldiers show for him as a result of how willing Doss was to go beyond the call of duty to help is touching and inspiring. A moving sequence of The Conscientious Objector occurs when Doss and soldiers with whom he served return to Okinawa, visiting the very ridge where Doss’s heroism, faith and forgiveness were on display.
As you watch the story of a true hero unfold in The Conscientious Objector, it’s hard not to be moved, challenged and uplifted. It’s a documentary you won’t want to miss.
—Adele Nash, Communication Coordinator, North New South Wales Conference