Born With It
Desmond Doss was born on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia, right at the foothills of the Blueridge Mountains. His family were devout Seventh-day Adventists who followed a certain type of lifestyle. The Doss family kept the Sabbath, which meant that they viewed Saturday as a day of rest when they didn’t work.
Source: Courtesy of the Desmond Doss Council
Doss’ mother, Bertha, also preached a nonviolent and vegetarian lifestyle, and these values were deeply instilled into the future hero. From a young age, Doss radiated the same kind of empathy that he would display as a soldier later in life. As a child, he once walked six miles to donate blood to a complete stranger after hearing about the blood drive on a local radio station. A few days later, he donated more.