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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Who Was Desmond Doss?

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

We live in a world that is plagued by war.

When you read the Bible, you make the remarkable discovery that war actually began in heaven, where Lucifer and his angels fought against Michael the Archangel and his angels.

Today around planet Earth, there is not a day that goes by that there's not warfare somewhere.

Now, the vast majority of people who participate in war are people who are simply following orders, and many of them pay the ultimate price.

Others get to return home, but some scarred physically and emotionally.

And we remember them and we honor them in places like this.

I'm at Veterans Park in Collegedale, Tennessee, just miles from the It Is Written office in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The park was developed to honor those who served to preserve our freedom.

Like other similar Veterans Parks, this 1 honors all the branches of military service Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines.

Along the walkway there's a timeline of wars.

The plaque reminds us that freedom is not free.

Around this circle there are individual bronze plaques commemorating all of the wars that have been fought by Americans.

The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, both World Wars and more recent wars.

On each plaque is listed the number of those who served, those wounded, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals have given their lives for the freedom enjoyed in this country today.

As the slogan aptly states, all gave some and some gave all.

On July the 16th, 2015, a man opened fire at 2 nearby military facilities, claiming 5 lives, 4 Marines, and a Naval Petty Officer.

This latest addition at Veterans Park honors those who lost their lives that day.

That unprovoked terrorist attack reminds us that what Peter wrote is applicable to us today.

1 Peter 5 and verse 8 says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." At this monument we read the words of General Douglas MacArthur, "...the soldier above all others prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

There are plaques commemorating those who were missing in action, became prisoners of war and killed in action.

This 1 reads, You paid the ultimate price.

You gave your life that we might be free.

You cannot know the benefits your sacrifice made possible.

We shall always be grateful to you." This plaque commemorates those who served as conscientious objectors.

It reads, To those who served in the military while refusing to bear arms, thank you for defending your country in harmony with your conscience.

Your willingness to go into harm's way unarmed demonstrates a faith that inspires all Americans.

Many of those who chose to be conscientious objectors served as combat medics.

This bronze memorial illustrates the scene of a combat medic treating a wounded soldier.

Now above all, this park is dedicated to the memory of a local hero.

He was a conscientious objector, a combat medic, and a man of great faith.

Every Word is a one-minute Bible-based daily devotional presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially for busy people like you.

Look for every word on selected networks or watch it online every day on our website itiswritten.com.

In 2009, the F-22 fighter plane cost the U.S.

Air Force somewhere between $137 million and $469 million each, depending on how you calculate.

A government pays what it does in order to have the best weapons possible.

Each of Gideon's 300 men went into battle with a shofar and a torch inside a clay jar.

Judges 7 verse 20 says, Then the 3 companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers.

They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing.

And they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

They blew the trumpets, broke the jars, and let their light shine.

When they let their light shine, victory came." If you let your light shine, if you let Jesus shine in you, you'll have victory too.

The focus of Veterans Park here in Collegedale, Tennessee, is a man who was a conscientious objector.

During World War II, he refused to touch a weapon of any kind or to carry a gun.

He's a well-known local war hero and known as the Hero of Okinawa.

This statue commemorates Corporal Desmond Thomas Doss, a long-time resident of this area.

He's also a national hero, as the recipient of this nation's highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

October 12, 1945, on the lawn of the White House, 15 Medal of Honor recipients were given their award by the President of the United States.

When it was his turn, Desmond walked up to the President.

Truman warmly shook the hand of Corporal Doss and held it the entire time his citation was read aloud.

Then as he placed the Medal of honor around his neck, the President said, I'm proud of you.

I consider this a greater honor than being President.

He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a Jagged Escarpment 400 feet high.

As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machine gun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back.

Private Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment, and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands.

On the 2nd of May he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment.

And 2 days later, he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrade's wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety.

On the 5th of May, He unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer.

He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire, and while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma.

Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Private Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire.

On the 21st of May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese, and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade.

Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover.

The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Private Stoss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man.

Awaiting the litter bearer's return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm.

With magnificent fortitude, he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station.

Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions.

Private Doss saved the lives of many soldiers.

His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry, far above and beyond the call of duty.

3 and a half years before those words were read on the lawn of the White House, Desmond Doss pulled on his Army uniform for the first time.

But things did not start well for the soft-spoken Virginian.

He wanted to be a combat medic, but as providence would have it, he was assigned to an infantry rifle company.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Desmond was working at the Newport News Naval Shipyard and could have requested a deferment, but he was willing to risk his life on the front lines in order to preserve freedom.

He assumed his standing as a conscientious objector would not require him to carry a weapon.

But his refusal to even touch a gun caused his fellow soldiers to view him with disdain.

Nobody believed a soldier without a weapon was worth anything.

So they ostracized him, bullied him, cursed at him, and threatened him.

1 man warned, "'Doss, when we get into combat, I'll make sure you don't come back alive." Desmond had been raised with a fervent belief in the Bible, and when it came to the 10 Commandments, he applied them personally.

During childhood his father had purchased a large framed picture at an auction.

It portrayed the 10 Commandments with colorful illustrations.

Next to the words, thou shalt not kill, was a drawing of Cain holding a club and standing over the body of his dead brother, Abel.

With that picture firmly embedded in his mind, this young boy determined that he would never take life.

And there was another commandment that Desmond took just as seriously as the sixth.

He was raised to go to church every week on the seventh day of the week.

The army was exasperated when this Bible-reading misfit asked for a pass to attend church every Saturday.

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Who Was Desmond Doss?

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