The Oscar-winning movie “Hacksaw Ridge”, popularised the story of Desmond Doss Sr and his time in the war. However, Doss Sr had unfortunately passed away before the movie was even in production. We chatted with Desmond Doss Jr about how he helped bring the story of his father to the screen and how the movie helped him.
As he stood in front of the bright, white flashes of the mob of paparazzi, Desmond Doss Jr walked the red carpet at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, standing in front of onlookers as he portrayed a look of ‘disbelief’. “Hacksaw Ridge”, were the words plastered on the wall behind him.
Words that were the name of the latest movie ready for the public to see, but to Doss Jr, it meant more. It was the name of the movie that finally gave him the opportunity to share the heroics of his father, to share the day that Desmond Doss Sr earned his Medal of Honour, presented to him by President Harry Truman; the day he saved 75 lives in Okinawa without killing a single soul.
As Doss Jr stood there with the name in the background, he stood to one side, leaving his right-hand side empty, but he felt that it was not.
“I just had a feeling that my father was looking on, knowing that everyone found out who he was and how important he was. Not just to the country he served, but also how important he was to me in my life,” he said, emphasising how much the WWII hero meant to him.
The close relationship between father and son meant that Doss Jr wanted to ensure that if there were to be a movie about his father, it would be produced by the person he trusted.
As he worked his post office job in Ilwaco, Washington, in the early 2000s, he would receive calls from directors asking him to let them produce a movie about his father. However, the 79-year-old was certain about letting Mel Gibson be the one to produce the movie.
“I wanted Mel to be the one to lead the movie because seeing what he has done before, I knew he would be able to pull off what was needed to show my dad correctly,” Doss Jr said with confidence.
“Mel was always focused on showing faith, conviction and making sure it was accurate, all the things I believed were needed to make sure my dad’s story was done justice.”
And as the movie ended at the premiere in the Sala Grande theatre in Venice, Italy, it was met with a ten-minute standing ovation from an audience that believed justice was served for the “Wonderman of Okinawa”.
Yet within that crowd, one proud son remained seated, taking it all in. “It felt like I was just frozen in my seat with awe. What I just watched, the reaction of the people after, all of it was beautiful,” Doss Jr said with a slight break in his voice.
“Of course, the applause was for how good the movie was, but I couldn’t help but feel that they were also for my father and what he did. I was so happy he was getting the attention he deserved.”
Doss Jr’s praise for the movie did not stop there. After leaving the theatre, the cast of the movie stuck around to talk to one another, allowing him to meet the man who represented his father on the silver screen, Andrew Garfield.
Doss Jr had a lot of praise for Garfield’s acting, saying, “Before I spoke to him, I didn’t realise he was British!” he said with a hearty laugh.
“I told him his southern accent was damn near perfect. Not only that, but the way he played my dad, his facial expressions, how he represented my dad’s faith…” he paused. “It was like I was seeing my dad again.”
The acting praise from Doss Jr continued for the entire cast, also pointing out the portrayal of his mum, Dorothy Doss, by Teresa Palmer.
“Seeing my mother on screen was just so beautiful. Seeing both my parents together again, I honestly couldn’t ask for anything more. I didn’t get as much time with my mother as I wanted, and even those couple of hours seeing a version of her felt amazing,” he said, going on to praise his mother. “I mean, if you want to talk about more heroes, my mother is definitely one.”
The son of the war hero was born in 1946 and spent the first five years of his life growing up without his dad, with him being checked into the hospital for tuberculosis, along with many injuries from the war, and the 79-year-old knows how that impact must have felt, especially on his mum.
“Everyone remembers and can see what he’s done, but no one knows how his life was after, or even for his family,” he said with a slight frustration in his voice.
“I mean, I remember asking my mother how it was raising me on her own and she told me how hard it was, not just because I was a difficult baby but just when I would be able to see my father because it was never certain when he would be let out. I can’t imagine how scary it must have been for her and how relieved both of them were when they found out we could be a proper family.”
As life continued, Doss Jr’s life became less ordinary, especially with his parents. Doss Sr’s body started to feel the effects of the war, becoming completely deaf when Doss Jr was 30, and in 1991, Doss Sr started to lose his eyesight. That was also the year that he would lose his wife, and Doss Jr would lose his mother in a fatal car accident.
“It happened just a mile from home. I got there before the ambulance could arrive, and I remember seeing her still in the car. I knew she was already dead,” he said, looking into the distance as he remembered the moment.
“When the ambulance got there and took her into the back of the van, I asked them if I could have a moment with her, and I took her hand, told her how much I loved her and said goodbye. That was one of the most precious moments that I will never forget.”
After the death of Dorothy, the relationship between father and son began to get ‘difficult’. “Speaking to my father became really hard. Not because I didn’t want to, but because of his state. He would sometimes write notes, but even that started to become hard for him,” Doss Jr said with some annoyance at himself.
However, despite the difficulty, this did not stop Doss Jr from showing his dad his love for him.
“When he had moved back to Alabama, I visited him one time. I couldn’t have a conversation with him, but he knew I was there. I needed him to know how much I loved him despite all that we had been through. So as he lay in bed, I got in it with him and hugged him. He hugged me back, and we just stayed like that for I’m not sure how long, but I knew it was for a while,” he explained. “When I got up, I knew I loved my father again.”
Doss Jr also credited the production of “Hacksaw Ridge” for helping him grow a deeper connection and affection for his father, even after Doss Sr died in 2006.
He mentioned, “When the film was being made, they reached out to me to make sure everything they did about my father was accurate, which made my love for my father and his story grow more than it could,” he said as he started to talk about his father with a passion.
“It made me appreciate his characteristics even more, such as his faith. I’m not religious at all, but seeing how much it drove my father made me appreciate it, and I always remember that one Bible quote he lived by, ‘God is Love’, and I try to live by those words.”
As Doss Jr lives by the words his father once led with, he wanted a similar message to be the one taken by all generations that watch the war movie, which he instead calls ‘a movie about love’.
“You can see in the movie how my dad loved and cared for everybody, not just for his family and friends. He even showed the most love for those who looked down on him and didn’t like him much, and that is the type of love people should show each other. I think that would help make the world just that little bit better.”
