Finding aid to the Desmond Thomas Doss Collection

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 Memorial Avenue
Lynchburg, Virginia 24501
(434) 846-0501
DESMOND THOMAS DOSS (1919-2006) COLLECTION
The collection includes biographical information on Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious
objector who served as a medic during World War II and received the Congressional Medal of
Honor for saving fellow soldiers on Okinawa. He also received the Purple Heart Medal for
injuries received. The collection also includes the Lynchburg (Va.) City Council minutes and
supporting documents concerning a highway marker, a memorial highway designation and a
memorial tablet on Monument Terrace in Lynchburg, in honor of Doss. Dedication ceremonies
and photographs on three computer disks are also included.

DESMOND THOMAS DOSS (1919-2006)
Desmond Thomas Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on 7 February 1919, the son of
William Thomas Doss and Bertha Oliver. He was drafted for military service in 1942. Due to
his religious convictions, he refused to carry any weapons, but insisted on serving as a
conscientious objector. He served as a medic in the Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th
Infantry Division. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of dozens
of fellow soldiers while under fire on Okinawa April 29-May 21, 1945. Wounded during the
conflict, he received the Purple Heart Medal.
Doss married Dorothy Pauline Schutte, a schoolteacher from Richmond, Virginia, on 17
August 1942. After her death in a car accident in 1991, he married, secondly, Frances Duman in
1993. Desmond T. Doss died 23 March 2006 in Piedmont, Alabama.

MS1158