Desmond Thomas Doss was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, he refused to carry a weapon.
Doss, photographed prior to receiving the Medal of Honor in October 1945
Doss on top of the Maeda Escarpment, May 4, 1945
Corporal Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman on October 12, 1945
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or of religion. The term has also been extended to o
Desmond Doss
…Philippines. Doss further distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving 75 to 100 men, acting on his own, becoming the first of only three conscientious objectors to receive the Medal of Honor for this and other actions; the other two conscientious objectors being Thomas W. Bennett and Joseph G. LaPointe Jr., who…
The Deserter by Boardman Robinson, The Masses, 1916
Refusing to serve in the Vietnam War, boxer Muhammad Ali stated, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... They never called me nigger." in 1966
Blessed are the Peacemakers (1917) by George Bellows
Stamp created by the Centre de défense des objecteurs de conscience (around 1936)