British Marine Reacts To The Medic Who fought a War without a Weapon

[Music] hey what's going on troops gen did commando here and welcome to the channel guys my name is ryan and i'm a former royal marine from the united kingdom and today we're going to be reacting to the medic who fought a war without a weapon now goes without saying guys anyone who tries to fight a war without a weapon is either brave or absolutely batshit crazy okay but this guy i've got a lot of respect for got a lot of respect for medics okay i've served alongside medics and i know exactly what it is entailed within their job spec and you know it's a very very hard job guys all right they're putting themselves in you know the face of adversity and um they've got to be able to live up to the expectations of the troops around them and keep them safe it's a very very privileged job role to be in and i respect it greatly guys so if anyone is a medic who's watching this thank you for your service i really do respect each and every one of you guys you're amazing but without further ado let's get straight into it but before we do like share and subscribe to the channel i just want to say thank you to each and every one of us who's stopping by to watch my content i'm absolutely um gobsmacked the support i'm getting okay so thank you thank you thank you unless it's cool the medic who fought a war without a weapon [Music] desmond doss was not your average hero he would become a medal of honor recipient the united states of america's highest and most prestigious military award as a combat medic who saved many of his comrades lives in battle without firing a single shot wow and he got the medal of honor as well the highest actually the highest award within united states military that says a lot about this this individual and i'm looking forward to finding out more about guys respect because he didn't take a weapon into combat because of his religious beliefs desmond doss was born in 1919 in the state of virginia and was raised as a strict seventh-day adventist a christian denomination that believed that saturday was the sabbath and that the second coming of jesus christ was imminent they also believed strongly in non-violence and a healthy diet based typically on a vegetarian diet dos had been raised with a strict belief in the bible and when it came to the ten commandments he took them to be the core values of how to lead his life when world war two started he was conflicted as he believed the war was a just one but he felt that to kill another human being under any circumstance was wrong so right off the back this guy sounds like he was brought up from a nice family whether you're religious or not is irrelevant he was brought up in a good a good family he had ethics he had morality he um he followed he followed a code of conduct that meant he was a quite a nice guy okay from from straight off the back i can see that okay he was already employed as a joiner at newport news naval shipyard but nevertheless he joined the united states army on april first nineteen forty two he could have requested a deferment but he wanted to do his patriotic duty he was assigned to an infantry unit the 77th division and presumed that his classification as a conscientious objector would not require him to carry a weapon for dos one commandment of the bible stuck with him the most thou shalt not kill he wondered why he was assigned as a rifleman and not in a medical role his commanding officer tried to pressure doss into carrying a weapon as they thought he would be more of a liability than an asset in combat but doss refused interestingly which doss would later become it was common practice at the time to carry either an m1911a1 pistol or m1 carbine for self-defense purposes the rules go that a medic under the geneva convention is not forbidden from carrying a weapon but if a medic fires his weapon he stops being classed as a medic and therefore can be legitimately fired upon by the enemy little chaplin captain stanley would soon understand doss's protests and helped him transfer from riflemen to medical training that's awesome to me so you know let's let's look a little bit back in time then around 1940 guys a lot of people were enlisting they were required to for the war effort and to have the balls to stand up there in front of all of these brave young fearless men and say look i'm not going to carry a weapon system i want to do my bit but i don't believe in killing so i'm not going to carry a weapon um he'll be getting a lot of stick for that and anyone who's served in the military will understand just quite you know what kind of stick he'll have getting as well so it shows that he was a man of um it was a man of honor but he also stood by his word as well and he he didn't take no no crap from anyone and i like that he's um he's he's not just got a belief system he lives by it make matters worse his fellow soldiers mocked his religious beliefs when he was reading the bible daily and strictly observing the seventh-day adventist tradition of attending church every saturday dos continuously requested to be allowed to have saturdays off rather than sundays in order to follow his adventists beliefs that saturday was to be observed as the sabbath in the end captain stanley took this up with divisional headquarters and it was decided that juventus soldiers would have saturdays off just as the other men had sunday off so he spoke up for uh for something that he believed in and guess what change happened change happened you've got to speak up you've got to speak up what you believe in guys if you genuinely believe it's right and there's no one going to get hurt in the process you've got to be brave enough to stand up for something and change always happens as a result i respect this guy man this in fact made dos even more unpopular than ever with his fellow soldiers as he was seen to have it easy as he had saturdays off none were on base on sundays to see him pull extra duties to make up for this one of the squad's other soldiers summed up the company's feeling about him and his saturdays off complaining you get more passes than the general as dos was a strict vegetarian at a time when it was unusual it meant that the rest of the unit viewed doss with such distrust and hostility that one man in his unit even warned him ominously when we go into combat doss you're not coming back alive i'm gonna shoot you myself that's horrendous does eventually became an army combat medic saying while others are taking life i will be saving it the turning point for dos and his relationship with his company came with their first 25 mile march with full field pack and rifle something they were expected to achieve in eight hours the other soldiers thought doss would be having it easy as he would be carrying no rifle or ammo that day but his two canvas medical bags were almost as heavy and much more awkward to carry than any rifle as the march progressed the men started to suffer from exhaustion numerous blistered feet and dehydration some even passed out yeah guys i can speak from experience direct experience of doing miles um similar and and and great and greatly more than that okay the the finish line of the royal marines commando test 30 miler um you know we were carrying medical packs as well on top of our kit which does weigh you down but it's that steely determination that gets you through it doesn't matter how big or small you are you can do these things and um my bet is that a strong individual such as dawson this guy this medic is he's gonna have a strong personality i reckon he's probably gonna shine through in these kind of events all right and all the time there was dos always with a helping hand even to the extent that at the end of the march he insisted on checking everyone's feet and administering medical aid where it was needed by the end of that day he had won the respect of his entire unit for his tireless devotion to his duty yeah it only takes one event like that to change the opinions of people i've seen it firsthand myself with individuals who you thought might not be strong but in situations where they were needed they're prevailed all right this they stood out there they were the guys who who who met the grid okay and that there's nothing as great in a section of men who are fighting men when someone who you underestimated prevails all right and that's all it takes sometimes to be a good egg in a section all right prove yourself and there's a lot of proven in the military and sometimes people might think well there's a lot of bullying goes on there's a lot of push until one side goes on but at the end of the day you're fighting men you're men of war and at the end of the day you've got to be able to earn that respect because if you are a wheatling and you're not good enough and you haven't got what it takes then you can put other people's lives in danger it might seem like an alpha male environment where that's just the way it goes but you have to you have to accept that guys you have to become that um and i understand it very well okay there's no room for a weak link if you have got a weak link you've got to push them through it you've got to drag them through it and hopefully they prevail in the end this guy's done it he's made the grade he's on the team for the first time he was treated as one of their own dos as the qualified combat medic of the unit was now responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield he would be assigned to accompany his unit into the war zone and be there with them on the front line at all times that is awesome this was soon to happen for the 77th division had had their first combat experience on may 11 1943 and doss and his comrades were urgently being trained up to replace the combat losses and help expand the division's strength the 77th division would end up being in combat officially for no less than 208 days suffering a total of 9212 casualties those numbers always get me i know the numbers when you do your research and you take a bit a bit of pride in the history and stuff but those numbers when they're spoken back when they're vocalized back just hit hard we're talking thousands and thousands of men guys just off this one event it it really does hit home man and like you know these people had families had wives husband you know these people just i don't know man it does it does strike struck a nerve guys and i i just want to say once more i do respect every single person that served and um rest in peace to all these valiant men and women who lost their lives mana i do respect them so much before the war would end the battle of guam dosa's first taste of combat was at the battle of guam which was a bloody battle fought from july 21st to august 10 1944 to recapture the u.s territory of the island of guam from a determined japanese garrison of nearly 20 000 troops though according to the geneva convention knowingly firing at a medic wearing a clear insignia is a war crime the japanese snipers and machine gunners tended to ignore this and saw combat medics as easy and valuable targets to gun down right guys drop some comments below i want to hear your thoughts and opinions on this what is your thoughts on that about combat medics being you know you can't shoot them and stuff i i think in war you know we have to as horrible as it sounds we have to have some form of rules but the rules are only played out by those who make them all right and you normally find the united states great britain or the european counterparts we we follow that convention but it's it's the other guys it's the people who we've fought with throughout the generations they just don't follow it which puts us the good guys a massive disadvantage which saddens me really and all these these medics are still getting their heads blown off in these in these events which is um it saddens me all right do we play by their rules or do we play by a warn let us know in the comments so medics in the pacific theater were often told to avoid wearing medical insignia in case it would make them more not less of a target doss was under fire nearly every day during the battle and was busy doing his part in saving lives guam had shown dos how cruel war could be as his unit was pushing forward through the jungle on their first day a young fresh-faced recruit spotted a fountain pen and went to pick it up before anyone could warn him otherwise a white phosphorus grenade exploded the pen had been booby-trapped the young man who had picked up guys all right men we like shiny things we like gadgets we just like stuff and they played into it well all right same thing happened in afghanistan i've heard horror stories over there they would put ordnance pieces down shiny ak-47s golden ak-47s you know diamond grips and stuff just makes you interested glads wanting to pull them up and then they found out they were rigged ieds aren't blown off leg blown off body blown apart and then they started to start like putting sops in place to stop this from happening again guys let me know in the comments what you think about those tactics i certainly know that our lot wouldn't do such a thing all right we wouldn't do that although this killing in war we still fight by the honor record all right there's on it in war still have these guys got honor i don't think so the pen his chest now a bloody mess had blood pouring out of an open wound severe burns and sharp metal fragments covered his body and he was going into shock by some miracle dos managed to stabilize his condition administering care and helping to evacuate him and three other soldiers who had been wounded by flying red hot shrapnel this guy is a legend was darce's first taste of combat casualties dawson is alleged us casualties during the battle was truly appalling of the 59 000 us troops who took part in the invasion around every one in six were either killed or wounded hang on a minute one in six were either killed or wounded guys this is crazy this is crazy the battle of leyte next doss and his unit was involved in the battle of leyte in the philippines that ran from october 17th to december 26 1944 a vicious and prolonged battle which started with a huge us coastal bombardment and amphibious landing followed by heavy fighting the more inland the americans went during a japanese counter-attack a fellow medic clarence glenn had heard the call for a medic from a machine gun he left the cover and went into the open into no man's land to get the wounded man and was himself hit glenn was doss's friend from back home and he couldn't leave him there so he and a litter bearer herb shechter went out to find the two wounded and dealt with them separately doss was attending the machine gun along his face while bullets whizzed overhead both of the wounded were alive they made an improvised litter out of a poncho and tree branches to get the wounded men back to the aid station but his friend glenn would die before he made it from this point on doss would not look at the face of the man he was treating in case it was another friend sadly his friend herb would be shot and killed when he and dos were carrying a litter as their silhouette exposed them against the sky to the enemy crazy on top of losing his friends doss was constantly hungry because the meat in the k rations conflicted with his vegetarianism so he could only eat the tasteless crackers and coconuts he found so this guy is probably suffering from malnutrition he's really making it hard for himself but this just is a testament to how much a person is willing to stand by what they believe in and he really does believe in the cause guys i've got so much respect for this guy a lady the coconuts on the ground gave him diarrhea so he climbed the trees for fresh ones at one point dos was looking for coconuts it attracted poorly aimed japanese machine gun fire when they were killed by american soldiers it was later discovered that they had been drunk on sake wow one thing that shocked doss during the most devastating times of the campaign was that the same man who had made threats towards him during training at fort jackson now came to him for guidance and to pray for him well that just goes to show you've got to never really judge people and you've got to be careful of your actions towards them because in the future karma always has a way of coming full circle and you have to treat that situation very differently i've been involved in situations myself where i've acted in a manner that you know isn't appropriate wasn't wasn't according uh how i should have reacted and and all sorts said things that shouldn't have been said and you know the comic effect always comes around or either kick you're in the ass or bite you're in one or the other and either way it's not that good you know so it's it's easier said than done i guess the battle of okinawa and lastly for dos and the 77th infantry division was a battle that was to be the bloodiest battle of the war in the pacific as well as its largest amphibious landing the us objective was to secure the island as a base as it was just 350 miles south of the japanese mainland and would be strategically crucial for any future invasion of japan the battle started on april 1st 1945 exactly three years to the day that doss first enlisted in the army and the battle was to last 81 days wow doss was assigned to the first battalion as their combat medic on april 29 1945 the 77th division was given the task of assaulting on a 400 foot high cliff called the mida escarpment this was nicknamed by the americans as hacksaw ridge i can only imagine how brutal this is i've done a lot of vertical cliff assaults um in my time of you know in jordan in the middle east and stuff you you do loads of this stuff in in the royal marines okay and it's it's scary enough in practice guys all right you're climbing cliffs laden with weight normally at night because you have to get the element of surprise at dawn and it's scary stuff guys you've got to climb up a cliff and then you've got to do what you've got to do at the top of that cliff these guys are doing it for real um yeah i know exactly what the feeling i actually nearly fell off a cliff in jordan um because you're not strapped in or anything you're just climbing these things independent of any of that stuff you know um mad respect before they climbed the cargo net doss said a prayer for his comrades when doss's unit joined the assault and as they neared the top of the escarpment they came under intense japanese artillery small arms and machine gun fire inflicting severe casualties on the assaulting american troops the american forces had sent in wave after wave of troops to try to dislodge a fanatical enemy base there who were well entrenched and camouflaged on may 4th while his unit was attacking a heavily fortified enemy position at the mouth of a cave doss went to the aid of four of his injured comrades the lieutenant who led the attack on the emplacement had intended to throw a grenade when an enemy bullet hit him and delayed blowing his hand off and wounding his comrades despite having to get within 25 feet of the enemy lines and under attack by enemy grenades at gunfire doss managed to get to the injured men he then managed to evacuate the men back to his own lines one by one i think we need to remember as well guys he's doing this whilst unarmed he hasn't got a weapon system anyone who's been in the infantry the royal marines the marines us marines whatever combat role i can't explain how how naked you feel without having a weapon system to be able to at least utilize upon the enemy it's a and that's the only that's the only way i can explain it is you feel you feel you feel naked you feel lost without that that weapon system is your go-to all right you get trained so much to think about that weapon all the time all the time all the time where is it you can't leave it out your sight it's there it's a part of you it's like a it's like another arm it's like a limb it's like it's a part of you that weapon system to not have one i would feel very very vulnerable man extremely vulnerable this guy is doing all of this with the shot you know let's face it he could get captured as well he hasn't got a single thing on him it's scary during the night the japanese continued to throw grenades and kept up the mortar fire the american soldiers hid in rock crevices but the japanese found ways to infiltrate and sneak up on them then on the next day may 5th he came to the rescue of a wounded artillery officer who had gone to see how the artillery guns were doing doss's left leg was now injured as he fell the day before down the edge of a parabet he climbed up the cargo net with his first aid kits his weight falling on his bad leg finding him in a shell hole the officer had been struck by shrapnel that had made a hole from his chest to his back and doss could hear him breathing through it he was bleeding heavily dos gave him first aid while under constant enemy gunfire and shelling he put the dressings over the large holes in the colonel's chest and back and administered blood plasma which dangerously exposed dos to the enemy as he had to hold it up high dosa's efforts here would be in vain as the colonel carried back on a stretcher died before he reached the aid station later there were orders to take a vital japanese pillbox position on the reverse slope of the hill that was holding up the american advance this is crazy once he had read his prayers was happy to support the assault the american troops threw gasoline cans at the position which triggered a large explosion all of a sudden a large japanese counter attack overwhelmed the american soldiers causing them to panic and rush back to the edge of the cliff goodness but despite this doss refused to take cover and while constantly under heavy fire by the enemy though being totally exhausted he spent hours carrying created one by one to the edge of the escarpment then to get the more severely wounded down he tied a rope to a tree stump and lowered them down the cliff on a rope supported stretcher to safety this man's a legend when the structure legend he turned to a new method looping the rope around the wounded men's chest and legs to lower them down dos standing exposed to potential enemy fire was seen praying at the cliff edge as the men were being scratched down and later he had said he had been praying to the lord to help him get one more and after that one more until they were all down calculating the wounded men at the base of the cliff the captain you talk about acts of ultimate kindness acts of love in war is what we're seeing it's it's phenomenal man doubt that dos had saved around 75 men the americans would eventually go back up the cliff and on may 7th would take the position by some miracle dos survived the whole battle totally unhurt but that was soon to change on may 21st in the confusion of a night attack doss tended to the american wounded risking being hit by both the japanese and by friendly fire dos was in a shell hole with another american soldier when a grenade landed beneath him his reflex action was to put his foot off and was seriously wounded in both legs his blood poured out from the impact of 17 pieces of shrapnel in his body but he remained in his position for five hours tending to himself while also helping others who were wounded until a medic and a pair of litter bearers could get to him but that was not the end of it that day for as he was being stretched they got caught in an enemy tank attack as they took cover daw spotted a critically injured man and insisted that he be taken back on the stretcher instead of himself wow while doss waited for the litter bearers to return he was found and held back by a fellow soldier doss was hit by a japanese sniper's bullet and suffered a compound fracture to his arm the two men took cover in a shell hole realizing how badly injured he now was doss instructed the soldier on how to bind his rifle stock to his shattered arm to act as a splint eventually pushing through excruciating pain he would make it back to the aid station the us army recognized doss's extreme bravery and he was awarded the congressional medal of honor for his heroic rightfully saw rightfully so man if there was an honor higher than that i wish there was he would be deserving of that this guy is an absolute legend and i can't believe i never heard this story before but it's a one that i'll definitely remember forever i truly will look and selfless actions at okinawa from april 29 to may 21 1945 because of his heroic actions many wounded men made it back home desmond doss would go on to run a family farm with his wife dorothy and lived to the age of 87. good on him wow guys what a what a beautiful man irrespective of religion and that kind of stuff guys you know or a beautiful person we need more people like him in the world sometimes you know the worst situations can bring out the best in people and in the worst of situations the best was brought out of that man he lived a long healthy life help people get off the battlefield that's just beautiful man guys drop a like share and subscribe to this if you've got anything you want to ask me drop a comment below thanks for watching i really do appreciate you guys if you want to become a member to help me in doing this channel you know and they want to support me a little bit more you're not not inclined to at all consider becoming a member press the join button and uh follow me on instagram i'll follow everyone back and i'll see you later guys take it easy [Music] you

Channel: Gen Dit Commando

Views: 41,303

Rating: 4.9706903 out of 5

Keywords: Medal of Honor, medic, hero, history, Virginia, USA, american, United States, 77th Division, Desmond Doss, Geneva convention, chaplain, Adventists, 7th day, vegan, vegetarian, Japanese, British Marine Reacts To The Medic Who fought a War without a Weapon, British Marine Reacts, Royal Marine Reacts, The Medic Who Fought, the medic who fought without a weapon, the medic who fought without a weapon reaction, the medic who fought a war without a weapon reaction, royal marine reacts

Id: tH8571O_qO0

Length: 26min 47sec (1607 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 19 2021