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The Medic Miracle on Hacksaw Ridge Adam Palmer Copyright © 2014 by Adam Palmer All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Cover photo and graphic design by Caleb Palmer. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2014 DJ PRESS [email protected] ISBN-13: 978-1492898566 ISBN-10: 1492898562 BISAC: Fiction / Biographical 10 9 8 7 6 5 AUTHOR’S NOTE The first time I remember reading the story of Desmond Doss was in the mid 1970’s. Like many teenagers, I liked to read comic books, and in my hometown of Vincennes, Indiana was a small store across the street from Gregg Park that sold them. One day while perusing the selection, I came across a series titled True Comics, with a subtitle of “Truth is Stranger and a Thousand Times More Thrilling Than Fic- tion.” The cover promised 13 exciting features including “Pirate Patri- ot,” “Human Howitzer” and “Hero Without a Gun.” The comic was published in 1948, so the cover price was only ten cents, but that was the 70’s and inflation was working its magic; I probably paid closer to seventy-five cents for it. (True Comics #48 in mint condition, if you can find one, now sells for around fifty dollars.) I didn’t retain any details of the comic book story except the dialogue in “Hero Without a Gun” where Desmond’s arm was shattered by a tank shell and he calmly says, “This rifle stock should do for a splint.” At the time, I thought it was one of the hokiest things I had ever read, and several times over the next 30 years that phrase would pop into my mind. Later in my life, after I became a Seventh-day Adventist, I some- times heard other Adventists talking about Desmond Doss. I became curious and decided to learn more about him, so I read the two books written about his life: Desmond Doss: Conscientious Objector by Francis M. Doss, his second wife and The Unlikeliest Hero: The Story Of Desmond T. Doss, Conscientious Objector Who Won His Nation's Highest Military Honor by Booton Herndon. In 2004, The Conscientious Objector, a documentary about Doss, directed by Terry Benedict was released and received multiple awards at film festivals around the world. A few years later, I began hearing rumors that a feature film, along the lines of Band of Brothers, based on Desmond’s war experiences was in the works. Several announce- ments were made in the Hollywood trade journals, but the movie never got off the ground. In one article, I learned that the screenplay had finally been written by Robert Schenkkan. Schenkkan is also an actor. His most famous character was that of Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick in Star Trek: The Next Generation. As I was growing up, Star Trek was, by far, my favorite TV show. I loved Star Trek so much, it greatly influenced me in my career choice of Laser Electro-Optic Technician. One day, on a lark, I decided to e-mail Schenkkan and ask him what was holding up the Desmond Doss movie. I was surprised when I received a personal response from him later that day. About every six months thereafter, I would send him another e-mail and he would politely reply that the movie was in pre-production, or that they had signed a director, or that they had a certain (unnamed) famous actor in mind to play the part of Desmond Doss. I was starting to get frustrated at the lack of real progress, so in one of my e-mails I made the sugges- tion that Mr. Schenkkan should write a novel about Doss. Over the next few months, I kept having the impression that maybe I should write the novel. This was very weird, because I had no experi- ence at writing. I started wondering if the impression was coming from God. One day I prayed. If God wanted me to write a novel about Desmond Doss, I would be willing to try, but first I wanted some sort of sign that this was God’s idea, not my own. My son and I had a routine of reading a page from a worship book each night before he went to bed. A worship book contains 365 pages, one to read each day of the year. The book we were reading that year was titled, Peer to Peer by Stella Duncan-Bradley. It contained stories and thoughts written by teenage students at the Mount Pisgah Advent- ist Academy. On the very day after I had asked God for a sign, I opened the book, turned to the page for November 15th and read the short story written about Desmond Doss by Andy Rodriguez titled “The Conscien- tious Objector.” I started working on The Medic the next day. My idea was to write an entertaining, biographical historic fiction novel, which would incorporate the character of Doss into a story that included typical experiences of WWII soldiers from the time they were drafted until they were discharged from military service. Because The Medic includes incidents and dialogue, which Doss may or may not have experienced, the “Doss” in my book must be considered a fictional character. If you want to discover the true story of the “real” Desmond Doss, I recommend the documentary and two biographies that I mentioned above. Faith is the invisible hand that we hold, while waiting for God's plan to unfold. - Donice Jewell The Medic OCTOBER 1940 WAITING TO BE DRAFTED No matter what the outcome, Desmond Doss knew that this meeting would change the course of his life. In October of 1940, Desmond had filled out his draft card in accordance with the new Selective Service Law. A short while later, he received a ques- tionnaire in the mail asking him to provide some basic facts about his marital status, physical condition, work history, etc. The form included a box to check if he had a conflict that might prevent him from performing military service because of his religious belief. Desmond acknowledged that the law required him to register for the draft, but he also felt strongly that the Bible forbade him from taking another man’s life, so he decided to check the box. A few months later, he received another letter from the Selective Service. This time the government was demanding a written response to ten questions inquiring about his religious background and the reasons for his objection to war. The instructions directed him to “immediately fill out and return enclosed form DSS 47.” After Desmond returned the paperwork, months passed without hearing anything back. In the meantime, he moved to Newport News to take a well- paying job as a carpenter at the local shipyard. He also was dating an attrac- tive young woman named Dorothy, who he had met at church, and their relationship was starting to get serious. Desmond’s life seemed to be going along pretty well when out of the blue he received a letter ordering him to appear, along with his pastor, in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, at a hearing to determine his draft status. The inquiry was scheduled to take place on October 15th 1941, almost a year to the day from when he had first filled out his draft card. Desmond arrived at the post office building at 8:00 pm and had been testifying for almost an hour, when the chairman of the draft board posed his last question. “Mr. Doss, if a man was raping your sister, and you had a gun, are you telling me you wouldn’t use it?” “Wouldn’t have a gun,” Desmond replied. “Let’s just assume for the sake of argument, that you do have a gun. Are you telling this board that you would just stand there and do nothing?” “Who said anything about just standing there? That’s a different proposi- tion altogether. I never said I’d just stand there, and boy, when I got through with him, he might wish he was dead, but to kill a man? No, I couldn’t kill him.” “Mr. Doss, even if this board grants you conscientious objector status, I believe the time you might spend in the Army would be extremely difficult. Are you sure you don’t want to pursue a deferment? One most likely would The Medic be available to you because of your work at the shipyard. Or perhaps 4-E status?” asked the chairman. “Then you would be allowed to work with other conscientious objectors in a civilian labor camp on some work of national importance instead of serving in the military.” “But, you see, I’m not a conscientious objector. I’m a conscientious coop- erator. I just want to be classified as a non-combatant.” “I’m sorry Mr. Doss,” replied the chairman. “There is no such legal classi- fication as a non-combatant in the U.S. Army.” “I’m willing to serve in the Army,” Desmond countered, “but I won’t kill anybody.” “Thank you Mr. Doss. Would you and Pastor Howard be kind enough to step out of the room for a moment?” Desmond Doss and his pastor waited nervously in the hallway outside of the hearing room, knowing that the board members on the other side of the door were taking a vote to decide the young man’s future.