Royal Marine Reacts To The Medic Who fought a War without a Weapon | Simple History

what's up everybody and today we are reacting to the medic who fought a war without a weapon this is my simple history just so you guys know i'm incredibly sick i have the sorest throat right now you wouldn't even believe i went today to get the test for the rona hopefully it comes back negative i'm yet to find out but i'm incredibly incredibly sick so i might be a little bit quiet speaking of the medic who fought a war with our weapon i could do with the medic right now but i'm excited to watch these and react to him i think it's going to be a ton of fun um also if you guys haven't heard already me and my wife are converting a school bus and traveling the whole of the us and we're going to document it in vlog style on both youtube and instagram so if you want to check that out link down below to original adventures where we're converting the school bus it's going to be a ton of fun go and check it out i will also leave a link down below to simple history's original video make sure you go and like and subscribe and all that good stuff they totally deserve it but for now let's make me add small and let's react to some simple history it's very quiet is it supposed to have sound yeah okay good good the medic who fought a war without a weapon desmond doss was not your average hero that was really weird i was saying desmond dusk because he said in the thing and we've offset at the same time it was really weird 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 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 okay strange how um you see a lot of religions talk about um not eating certain things none of them are vegan or vegetarian completely or at least this is the first time i've seen a vegetarian one isn't that interesting also i feel like i've seen a film that might be about this dude maybe i don't know 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 ii 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 he was already employed as a joiner at newport news naval shipyard but nevertheless he joined the united states army on april 1 1942. 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 do you think he's really inspiring the during the wall um obviously there were some people who tried to get out of going to war especially um i don't know whether in the us whether world war ii was mandatory or not i know vietnam was for certain ages um i don't know whether world war ii is but was but um what i find really inspiring is how many people still volunteered that said they wanted to go into the military to to do their part to help their brothers out and the sisters because that happened a lot in the uk where there was a lot of young people who weren't allowed to join because of their age but lied about the age because they wanted to help it's pretty inspiring it's heartbreaking but it is inspiring 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 dos into carrying a weapon as they thought he would be more of a liability than an asset in combat but dos refused interestingly even for medics which doss would later become it was common practice at the time to carry either an m1911 a1 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 right that makes sense also the m1 carbine i've never shot one and i've always wanted to i feel like that's one of the weapons that i've always wanted to to shoot and i've never shot one and therefore can be legitimately fired upon by the enemy the regimental chaplain captain stanley would soon understand doss's protests and helped him transfer from riflemen to medical training to 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 i mean at the end of the day as an american and religious freedom is a vital part of america so um even though this was back during world war ii it's it's nice that they did respect that in a way some people didn't a lot of people didn't but some people did respect that 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 this in fact made doss 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 wow it's so frustrating how some people are just not tolerant of things that they're not used to right so as a collective of people most most people in america most people in england kind of have the same idea of a day-to-day basis right um weekends off you know all the usual things that we take for granted but in other countries that's not necessarily the same when me and steph lived in barcelona for about three months we wasn't used to the fact that everything shuts at like midday everyone takes a a a break at midnight for a couple of hours and then reopens again later on and we weren't used to that and i feel like um it's very common when a lot of people come up against things that they're not used to they automatically hate it when really and truthfully we should be learning from all these different ways of living um just to go on a bit of a tangent here guys dos 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 yeah it sucks as the march progressed the men started to suffer from exhaustion numerous blistered feet and dehydration some even passed out 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 that's awesome by the end of that day he had won the respect of his entire unit for his tireless devotion to his duty yeah sometimes you just gotta put in the hard work and show the lads why you're worth being part of the group you know good lad good lad for doing that even when people were hating on him 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 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 holy crap holy crap that's a lot of casualties it after watching that video about world war ii and the amount of deaths it's still hard to put into perspective how many died again i've been to normandy and i've seen the graveyards of both the uk and american graves and it's it's hard to it's hard to be there guys it's really difficult before the war would end the battle of guam dasa'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 us territory of the island of guam from a determined japanese garrison of nearly 20 000 troops yeah 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 that's heartbreaking but at the end of the day like we make these rules for war you know can't throw phosphorus at people the geneva convention there's all these rules for war that makes sense but at the end of the day is so contradictory because war itself is so horrific it's as if we've been like all right it's horrific but you can't be this horrific you know like it's such a weird concept but at the same time it makes sense like not to shoot medics like they're not there to kill people they're there to help people and i know we talk a lot about these different wars whether it's the afghan war or you know the vietnam war or world war one or two or anything like that even wars from back in the day that were like you know rome conquering europe um a lot of the people who were on the good or the bad side whichever inside you're on um a lot of the standard soldiers didn't truly know what they were fighting for right so you get this a lot with world war 1 2 for instance like a lot of young germans didn't really know the concepts obviously there was a lot of people who did know the concept because they were gassing people but the average soldier the average probably 18 19 year old who was in a trench fighting like the lads who all paused on christmas day if you don't know about that it's an excellent story they all basically paused on christmas day got out the trenches went to norman land no man's land another game of football it's it's lads like that they don't really understand what they're fighting for and um that's why this medics to help the lads who don't really have a say in why they're at war right so what happens if a lot of them 18 year olds in germany um were fighting the english the americans and then turned around and saw some of the atrocities that the nazis actually did which was more horrific than anyone such and sat watching these videos can even comprehend um genuinely horrific what the nazis did and yet they could turn around this like we saw it in we saw a good concept of this i don't know i'm talking a lot right now we saw a good concept of this in um what was it battlefield v where that tank driver the nazi tank driver you player starts to realize what's going on and he starts to slowly be like this is not good this is not who we are and ultimately you know tries to change morally but at the end of the day still german so you know it's kind of it's a weird concept in it but the idea is that there are good people out there and there are medics are there for a reason to help these people i know we've gone on a long time don't know but medics are there to help people that's it and the geneva convention is there to stop things from getting overboard even though war itself is overboard does that make sense am i talking about 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 make sense 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 laying on the jungle floor 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 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 was doss's first taste of combat casualties the us casualties during the battle was truly appalling of the 59 thousand u.s troops who took part in the invasion around every one in six were either killed or wounded wow wow next dawson 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 u.s 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 gunner 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 schechter went out to find the two wounded and dealt with them separately doss was attending the machine gunner who had a gash along his face while bullets whizzed overhead both of the wounded were alive that's horrific like some of the stuff these guys saw out in the war you can't even put words to it like something as simple as a gash across the face not a blown off limb or anything like that but i guess across the face can haunt you for the rest of your life like it really can um so yeah some of the stuff these guys saw especially the medics holy crap medics in in any war medics out in iraq and afghan and anywhere right now medics during world war ii vietnam falklands war some of the stuff they saw i couldn't do it 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 on top of losing his friends dos 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 a lady the coconuts on the that's gotta give you the poop sat on it right just straight coconuts and crackers that's gonna mess what you got on it ground gave him diarrhea so he climbed the trees for fresh ones at one point doss 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 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 wow 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 i swear i've seen a movie about this on side of a cliff and is it a film is it a film um more film about us medic axe saw ridge is that what it is holy crap yeah i've seen this film hacksaw ridge it was a it was genuinely amazing andrew garfield yeah my boy spiderman yep it was a great film fantastic if you haven't seen hacksaw ridge guys go and watch it but i like this because it's giving me more details that the film didn't give the film i know it's a biopic but i a lot of these war films you have to remember they are also for entertainment because they are films um so yeah i'd like to know i'd like to know more actually about who he was this desmond doss 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 the battle was to last 81 days 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 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 it blowing his hand off and wounding his comrades these this animation guys this animation is pretty good also horrific at the same time 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 wow 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 had 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 to hear him breathing through it he was bleeding heavily doss 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 it's this is so inspirational isn't it if you think about it it's so inspirational that someone is literally putting their life on the line to save as many people as possible no wonder this guy got the medal of honor truly truly an inspiration doss'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 a hill that was holding up the american advance desmond doss 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 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 the wounded one by one to the edge of the escarpment amazing 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 when the stretcher kept slipping he turned to a new method looping the rope around the wounded men's chest and legs to lower them down doss standing exposed to potential enemy fire was seen praying at the cliff edge as the men were being lowered down god imagine seeing that imagine seeing that like it's hard to point it really is hard to point to words in it like what that might have been like to actually see that and then go home and crack on with a normal life imagine me like oh yeah this dude i knew stood at the end of the edge of the cliff lowering people down as they were dying as he was getting shot like no wonder a lot of these guys have severe ptsd and stuff you know 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 legend calculating the wounded men at the base of the cliff the captain worked out that dos had saved around 75 men the americans would eventually go back up the cliff would take the position by some miracle doss 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 doss was in a shell hole with another american soldier when a grenade landed beneath him his reflex action was to put his foot on it 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 stretchered to safety 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 while doss waited for the litter bearers to return he was found and held back by a fellow soldier suddenly doss was hit by a japanese sniper's bullet and suffered a compound fracture to his arm holy cow took cover 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 he made it he literally made it he got blown up with a grenade and then shot through the arm and he still made it the us army recognized dossa's extreme bravery and he was awarded the congressional medal of honor for his heroic and selfless actions at okinawa from april 29th to may 21st 1945. because of his heroic actions many wounded men made it back home desmond doss would go on to run a small family farm with his wife dorothy and lived to the age of 87. 87 wow what an absolute legend one absolute legend um make sure i'm gonna leave a link down below to this video make sure you go over there like it and all that good stuff what a great video um again i think i i think i said this when we were watching the video about all the um the amount of people that died during world war two on how there's so many stories that have been lost in time from many different wars but especially these walls with the higher amounts of casualties like world war one and two um but there's so many stories that have just been lost in time how many people were like him but just so happened to die in the story never got told probably a lot of people like i'm i'm not i'm not taking anything away from desmond doss because this guy is the literally the epitome of a hero like a true hero like a true real hero this is this is the guy do you know what i mean but i bet there's a lot of stories very similar to this that just got lost through time because of people dying and that is really sad it's really sad in it if you think about it but yeah great video fantastic video i'll leave a link down below please go over there like and subscribe to simple history because it genuinely was fantastic and if you haven't seen hacksaw ridge i do remember it now it was fantastic i might watch it again actually tonight it was a fantastic film i do remember it now um i wanna wonder if it's like i wonder if there's like a um a biograph a biography or something about this dude because um i definitely definitely think it would be worth the read i really do anyway uh members you're amazing i love you i couldn't do this without you i honestly couldn't make videos every single day if it wasn't for these members right here so thank you for supporting the channel as much as you do i truly truly appreciate it don't forget link down below to the big new announcement original adventures me and my wife are converting a school bus and traveling the us it's a ton of fun we're really excited it's vlog style so you do get to see a bit more of my family and what i do on a day-to-day basis so if you want to see that link down below original adventures both youtube and the instagram links down below for my socials including the two links to this card we've got the military link and the gig links for all things geek we've also got a link down below to my podcast and my twitch stream where i stream every tuesdays and thursdays and also a link down below to my second channel original human geek where we upload dnd and other fun stuff until next time guys i hope i get better and i hope i can be a bit more loud and uh animated for you guys because i am feeling it today i'm getting hot sweats guys i'm getting hot sweats until next time i love you all have a wonderful day goodbye

Channel: OriginalHuman

Views: 210,507

Keywords: desmond doss, hacksaw ridge, medal of honor, war, world war II, WWII, World war 2, war movie, military, true story, us military, united states, story, stories, life story, military medic, medic, military story, animated, animation, Simple History, animated history, simple history, Simple History Reacts, Military Reaction, Military, Marine, Royal Marine Reacts, Commando Reacts, Marine Reacts, Reacts, Reaction, Experts React, Navy, Army, RAF, Air Force

Id: SvGO7AlrypU

Length: 28min 8sec (1688 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021