So it has been in literature, heroic poetry, epics, and drama ever since people decided to“ say” something about ourselves through tales of those who are a little better, a little braver, a little more special than the rest of us.
Hacksaw Ridge is that. It is the story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist whose Christian beliefs forbad him from killing or even holding a gun, yet who wanted to serve his country in World War II. He was thrust into a combat unit as a medic … and found himself surrounded by bombs and gunfire, grenades and maniacal Japanese soldiers, in the bloodiest battles of the bloody Pacific Theater, in battles for possession of the island of Okinawa.“ Hacksaw Ridge” was an escarpment, a sheer cliff that needed to be scaled by sitting ducks in U. S. uniforms, so to speak.
But drama’ s classical construction of“ conflicts and resolutions”( I have taught such themes in college courses) is not the main part of Hacksaw Ridge; Doss’ s conflict is not only with the Japanese. It is with himself, his conscience, his patriotic duty, his military superiors and fellow servicemen who initially brand him a coward. It is with his girlfriend and even his father who had been traumatized by death and loss in the First World War. Many moviegoers can identify with the movie’ s severe stress and emotional conflicts.
A dozen years ago, Mel Gibson made a great movie from a great story, elements wherewith many previous flopped: the torture and Crucifixion of Jesus, in The Passion
Doss estimated that he ministered to about 50 servicemen those horrific days. of the Christ. Superficially, Hacksaw Ridge has similarities – the protagonists’ integrity, sacrifice, suffering rejection and redemption.
But Desmond Doss was not a Jesus, and would have been the first to say so. A simple and modest country boy and he did his duty as he saw fit … not for glory or uncomfortable obligation. He returned to“ normal” civilian life after the war. His gravestone is simple. His fame, not sought nor paraded by him, died down in postwar years.
What made his service special? As the movie tells, after its first half establishes the ordinariness of his life and the excruciating choices he chose to confront, he was thrust into those battles for Okinawa; straight days of horrendous bombardment above and around him; scaling that impossible Ridge; rescuing wounded comrades with bullets whizzing past( and into) him; performing surgeries and binding wounds sometimes with only the light of exploding shells to let him see; arranging makeshift hammocks to lower bodies of wounded or dying soldiers more than 300 feet, one man at a time, the ropes burning his bloodied hands.
What made his life special? For that is a different question. Bravery and courage are different things; and Private Doss summoned both qualities. Dedication. Selflessness. Some of us occasionally display such traits – most of us never have to do so. But few of us are faced with such things over and over, much less succeed. Doss estimated that he ministered to about 50 servicemen those horrific days. The
U. S. government( and we see newsreel footage at the end, of President Truman decorating Doss with the Medal of Honor) cited 75 rescues. His comrades swore that he personally saved more than 100 men. Sergeant York, meet Private Ryan.
Private Desmond Doss – and the movie Hacksaw Ridge – are special because they remind us that some“ ordinary people” who live amongst us sometimes do extraordinary things. I prefer to find a lesson that extraordinary people live all around us, but usually go about their“ normal” lives modestly. When challenges present themselves, that is when our measures are taken.... sometimes in ways that astonish us.
Life has taught us, or it tries to, and so does the faith that motivated Private Doss, that loving is more difficult than hating. The world around us, even today, confirms that. The hero of Hacksaw Ridge, and even his fellow soldiers equipped with killing machines at their sides, did not do what they did on Okinawa or D-Day, or any battles in American wars before or since, because they hated.
Soldiers do it, and veterans did it, because they love – love their country, their flag, the American way of life; the love their towns and streets and homes and families.
Elsewhere in this issue, and on the Innovative Health Magazine website, readers will find information about The Freedom Ring. Purchasing the Freedom Ring, wearing it or making a gift of it, is a small way to show – and financially support – those amazing servants in our midst whom we call“ veterans.”
The Freedom Ring, and the movie Hacksaw Ridge, can remind us that freedom is not free, and that there are heroes among us that we need to remember and salute.
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