Why called hacksaw

Need even more definitions? Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms The same, but different. Merriam-Webster's Words of the Week - Nov. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice? The awkward case of 'his or her'. He was the first conscientious objector to receive the honor. He spent the first five years after the war recovering from his injuries, and ultimately lost a lung to tuberculosis.

His injuries prevented him working full-time, and he devoted the rest of his life to working with his church. Even at a very private, intimate level, he just wanted to give all the glory to God and never seemed to acknowledge his role. Doss was happy to speak about the battle with church groups and audiences all over the country, but Desmond Jr.

How does your family relate when they send you off and you come back in a wheelchair. But Desmond Jr. ET pre-show and p. See all the Oscar nominees and get your own ballot here! Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially.

If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission. Then they attempted to court martial him for refusing a direct order—to carry a gun. But they failed to find a way to toss him out, and he refused to leave. He believed his duty was to obey God and serve his country. But it had to be in that order. His unwavering convictions were most important.

Desmond had been raised with a fervent belief in the Bible. When it came to the Ten Commandments, he applied them personally. During childhood his father had purchased a large framed picture at an auction. It portrayed the Ten Commandments with colorful illustrations. Next to the words, "Thou shalt not kill" was a drawing of Cain holding a club and standing over the body of his dead brother Abel.

Little Desmond would look at that picture and ask, "Why did Cain kill Abel? How in the world could a brother do such a thing? However, there was another commandment that Desmond took just as seriously as the sixth. It was the fourth commandment. His religious upbringing included weekly church attendance, on the seventh day. The Army was exasperated to discover that he had yet another personal requirement. He asked for a weekly pass so he could attend church every Saturday. This meant two strikes against him.

His fellow soldiers saw this Bible reading puritan, as being totally out of sync with the rest of the Army. So they ostracized him, bullied him, called him awful names, and cursed at him. His commanding officers also made his life difficult.

Instead, he painstakingly winched 75 injured men down a steep cliff to safety, only following himself when all the others had been evacuated. That astonishing bravery is celebrated in the new Mel Gibson film Hacksaw Ridge.

The title comes from the nickname US soldiers gave the scrubby hill that came to define their war on Okinawa, at least in the popular imagination back home in America.

Up close, it seems almost unimaginable that so many lost their lives battling for control of this small outcrop. Gibson apparently felt the same, because the Hacksaw Ridge he re-created in Australia is a far larger, more dramatic peak than the Okinawan hill.