October12,
1945 - Medal of Honor Citation - Desmond T. Doss
Rank and
organization: Private
First Class, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th
Infantry
Division.
Place and
date: Near
Urasoe-Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April - 21 May 1945.
Entered
service at: Lynchburg,
VA.
Birth: Lynchburg,
VA.
G.O. No.: 97, 1
November 1945.
Citation: 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 machinegun 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
one by one 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 2 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
four 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 comrades’ wounds before making four separate
trips under fire to evacuate them to safety.
On 5 May, he unhesitatingly
braved enemy shelling and small-armsfire to assist an artillery officer.
He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection
from small-armsfire 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.
October 12, 1945
On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri,he remained in exposed territory while the rest of hiscompany took cover, fearlessly risking the chance thathe would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and givingaid to the injured until he was himself seriously woundedin the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather thancall 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 anenemy tank attack and Private Doss, 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 bearers’ return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of one 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 determinationin the face of desperately dangerous conditions, Private Dosssaved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughoutthe 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far aboveand beyond the call of duty.
