Hacksaw Ridge is an unusual film about the Battle of Okinawa, unusual because it is the story of a pacifist and his role in the battle. Desmond Doss was a Seventh day Adventist who refused to carry arms. For his actions in the battle he became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor – for saving 75 men when his unit was over run on Hacksaw Ridge on Okinawa. It was difficult to get the film financed as it is not about a normal combatant. Doss refused to carry a firearm of any kind, the film says because he once had to threaten his drunken father with one, but it seems more likely that this was simply because of his strongly held pacifist beliefs. What the film does not go into is how badly injured Doss was after his experiences in the Second World War. He was wounded four times in Okinawa – and later contracted tuberculosis in Leyte. His treatment for TB involved him losing a lung and five ribs. He also became completely deaf after treatment with antibiotics. Despite this he lived until he was eighty seven and raised a family.
