As a young soldier he shunned violence, wouldn't touch a gun and was devoutly religious - on paper he made an unlikely Army recruit, in reality he went down in history with a Congressional Medal of Honor.
Movie star Mel Gibson was so moved by the heroic story that he directed Hacksaw Ridge, in a bid to turn the Hollywood spotlight on the lesser known, but true story of World War II medic, Desmond T Doss.
Doss's only child, Desmond Jr, told People magazine. "I grew up in a house where there was an endless stream of people coming through the door wanting to make a movie, write a book, etc," he said.
A skinny shipyard worker, Doss was just 23-years old when he was called into draft in April 1942 and joined the Army as a front line medic.
After he refused to hold a weapon, engage in active fighting, and snubbed Saturday training - the day his church keeps as the Sabbath - Doss was given a conscientious objector status, someone who is is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principle
While in the Army Doss's pacifism even saw him threatened with a court martial, but the issue was resolved and he headed to war.Going on to make history when he saved 75 lives in the Battle of Okinawa, and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman in 1945.
It was during this battle that the 1st battalion – all ready to capture the heavily fortified Maeda Escarpment, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge due to the shape of its 400ft cliff edge - was met with Japanese gun fire.
As others retreated, Doss moved forward into the line of fire to take care of the wounded.
He lowered stranded injured soldiers off the cliff with a rope-supported litter he had devised using knots he had learned as a child and used a tree stump as an anchor.
Doss grew up in Virginia as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as a child, his father purchased a framed poster of the Ten Commandments one of which always stood out to him: 'Thou shalt not kill.'
'I wondered, how in the world could a brother do such a thing?" he once told Larry Smith in Beyond Glory, an oral history of Medal of Honor winners.
"It put a horror in my heart of just killing, and as a result I took it personally.
Ever the humble man, Doss said that while he was credited for saving 75 soldiers, it was more like 50.
In 2006 Doss, who had previously lost a lung to tuberculosis, sadly passed away aged 86 due to respiratory ailments.
Hacksaw Ridge is due to be released on November 4. A screening at the Venice Film Festival last week ended with a standing ovation.
Based on reviews so far, while gory, Gibson's portrayal of Doss's story appears to follow real life accurately and sincerely.
