Südame sunnil. Desmond Dossi lugu - Frances Doss

May 5, 1945, Okinawa. Enemy artillery, cannon, and machine guns mowed down the men of Company B, 77th Infantry Division. Almost immediately, 75 American soldiers fell wounded and the rest were forced to flee. Only the Japanese, the injured Americans and Desmond T. Doss remained on the ledge. /.../

For the next five hours, Doss tended to the wounded, dragged them to the edge of the ledge, and let them down with a rope. During those five hours Desmond had only one thought. He prayed, “God, help me save one more. Another one!”

How many men's lives Desmond Doss saved that day, no one but God knows. Of the 155 men, only 55 made it back under their own power. The officers suggested that this conscientious objector, who was about to be tribunaled or sent home as unfit for army service, saved a hundred men that day. Desmond's response to this offer was, “There couldn't have been more than fifty of them. I wouldn't have had time to save a hundred men."