Heroes, Real and Manufactured

Dennis Prager wrote a column about his experience at the two conventions, and mentioned this moment: “On the final evening of the Republican Convention, I sat in a suite with Medal of Honor recipients. I rarely find myself speechless, and never find myself intimidated. I did then. I was in the presence of real heroism, of men who really had done great things. I didn't know what to say to them. I was like a kid seated next to his greatest sports or movie idols.”

I can relate to how he felt. About ten years ago, I was researching the life of Desmond Doss, hoping to make a film. If you don’t know Mr. Doss’ story, I encourage you to look it up. Briefly, he was a 7^th Day Adventist whose beliefs forbade him from fighting. During WWII, he was offered an exemption to work in a shipyard. But Mr. Doss was a patriot, and even if his beliefs told him not to fight, he wanted to serve his country alongside the men who were fighting for their country. He enlisted in the Army to become a medic. The Army didn’t know what to do with him, and spent 2 years trying to kick him out. Men would throw boots at him as Doss knelt to pray beside his barracks bunk.

Desmond persevered, and became a medic. He served in Okinawa toward the closing days of the war. Time and again he went into dangerous territory, sometimes staying behind when the enemy overran their positions (believe me, this short paragraph does nothing to capture any of his heroism), and was credited with saving the lives of up to 200 men. Doss himself was wounded, and some stretcher bearers came for him. On their way back to the medical tent, Doss spotted another wounded soldier. Doss rolled off the stretcher, told the bearers to take the other man. Crawling back to the American lines, Doss was shot (breaking his arm) and survived having a grenade tossed at him.

For his actions in the Pacific, he won the Medal of Honor. For decades, Mr. Doss refused to let a film be made of his life, because he said he wanted to be sure God got all the glory, not Desmond Doss.

I had the privilege to spend an afternoon with Mr. Doss and his wife. He’s very deaf from the Japanese grenade assault, but it’s one of the most memorable moments of my life. I was in the presence of a true Hero. Not a sports "Hero," not a politician…but a man who demonstrated incredible courage, both in the face of his fellow citizens who had no understanding of his principles, but was equally brave in the face of the enemy trying to kill those same citizens.

In this current election year, you may draw your own conclusions about what a hero is, what it means to serve at a very steep personal cost to oneself. Screenwriters have a dictum: “Action is character.” What do the actions of the four nominees say about their character?

(One last note. Mr. Doss carried a Bible into battle, given to him, I believe, by his Mother. During the chaotic evacuation from the beach to a medical ship, the Bible was misplaced. On the hospital ship, Doss asked about it. The word was passed back to the troops, and the dogfaces volunteered to search the beach until the Bible was found and returned to him.)