Desmond Doss
More than 1,600 people attended the funeral service for Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Desmond T. Doss at the Collegedale Seventh-day Adventist Church on Saturday afternoon.
Among those present were the President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America Don Schneider and U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp.
Hundreds paid their respects to Mr. Doss’ family during a public viewing which began at 2 p.m. According to Sergeant Jody Howell, district leader for the Chattanooga Military Funeral Honors Unit, “The medal deserves honor. However, these people aren’t here for the medal, they’re here for the man who wore it. He’s a fascinating individual and there’s not a military man, to my knowledge, who didn’t think he was a hero.”
John Willis says he wanted to come because of how he was inspired by Mr. Doss. “I was one of those of the generation that was raised with stories about Desmond Doss,” he said. “I ended up going to Vietnam in 1970, and in the years prior to that, he was always the example of how a conscientious objector should survive and behave and treat the military, not just to be an objector but to be a conscientious cooperator.”
Those who attended the service included members of area Pathfinder clubs, a program for young people in grades 5-12. Mr. Doss influenced thousands of Pathfinders in his years after the war. Standifer Gap Pathfinder Kristiana Wrate said, “I just thought it was really cool what he did and how he honored God and his country with his convictions. It pushes us to be better people and stand up for what we believe in.”
At 3 p.m. the funeral service began with a welcome from Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventist’s President Ed Wright. He thanked attendees for coming to honor Mr. Doss’ contribution to America and to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “Some would say we use the term hero too loosely these days,” he said. “I would maintain when it was applied to Desmond Doss it is the most appropriate term we could provide.”
Congressman Wamp said he represented the members of Congress and the President of the United States. He said Desmond Doss was a great man and a great example of service. “His life is truly one of the greatest stories ever told,” he said.
In the homily, Elder John Swafford, Georgia-Cumberland Conference Pathfinder/Junior Youth Ministries Director and a friend of Mr. Doss’ for more than 50 years, shared the story of how Mr. Doss impacted his own life, saying that he was proud to have known him.
The service lasted approximately two hours and was followed by a showing of the documentary about Doss’ life, “The Conscientious Objector,” which more than 200 people attended.
Desmond T. Doss will be buried at 11 a.m. on Monday at the National Cemetery. He was the only conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II and the only Seventh-day Adventist to receive the military’s highest honor for valor in combat.