I was working in Newport News, Virginia, in a shipyard in defense work. I could have been deferred. In fact, my boss even offered to defer me, but I … - Desmond Doss

And when I was eighteen, in nineteen thirty-seven, I registered, like anyone else, with my draft board in Lynchburg, Virginia. I believed in serving God and country. I took medical training, and I did what I could in preparation for getting into the Medical Corps where I could serve God and country without going against the dictates of my conscience. My pastor, R.F. Woods, went with me. We were Seventh-Day Adventists. I wanted to be known as a noncombatant, but the Army had no such classification. I had to accept Conscientious Objector status or face a court-martial. It meant you were going in with religious scruples. Now, I did not want to be known as a CO because they were refusing to salute the flag or serve the country in any way, shape, or form, and they were having demonstrations.
Congress signed into law that COs could not be forced to bear arms. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and George C. Marshall, chief of staff, signed it, showing their approval. Adventists would not volunteer but would wait to be drafted. That's why I didn't go in until April first, nineteen forty-two. In addition to the Sixth Commandment, there was also the Fourth, to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Now, Saturday is the Sabbath to Adventists and they worship on that day and don't work. But, you know, Christ healed on the Sabbath. It's a type of work I could do seven days a week. That's why I wanted to get into the Medical Corps.

[About a framed poster depicting scenes for each of the Christian Ten Commandments] My dad bought it at an auction for seventy-five cents when they first started housekeeping, and so the picture's over a hundred years old. And when I looked at that picture, I came to the Sixth Commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill. I wondered, how in the world could a brother do such a thing? It put a horror in my heart of just killin', and as a result I took it personally: 'Desmond, if you love Me, you won't kill.' And He says every man is your brother.

And this is another place where we sort of disagree. To sum up my award now, you say I saved a life because I lowered a man down a cliff? That's like you say the operation was a success but the patient died before we could get him sewed up. That's not saving. Of the men I took care of, a number didn't survive. Did you save any, Doss? You didn't save his life; you did the best you could. And thatis the reason I don't like it said I saved so many lives, because it couldn't be. I just did the best I could.