<P> Desmond Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Thomas Doss (1893--1989), a carpenter and Bertha Edward Doss (née Oliver) (1899--1983), a homemaker and shoe factory worker . His mother raised him as a devout Seventh - day Adventist and instilled Sabbath - keeping, nonviolence, and a vegetarian lifestyle in his upbringing . He grew up in the Fairview Heights area of Lynchburg, Virginia alongside his older sister Audrey and younger brother Harold . </P> <P> Doss attended the Park Avenue Seventh - day Adventist Church school until the eighth grade, and subsequently found a job at the Lynchburg Lumber Company to support his family during the Great Depression . </P> <P> Before the outbreak of World War II, Doss was employed as a joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia . Doss entered military service, despite being offered a deferment for his shipyard work, on April 1, 1942, at Camp Lee, Virginia . He was sent to Fort Jackson in South Carolina for training with the reactivated 77th Infantry Division . Meanwhile, his brother Harold served aboard the USS Lindsey . </P> <P> Doss refused to kill an enemy soldier or carry a weapon into combat because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh - day Adventist . He consequently became a medic assigned to 2nd Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division . </P>

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