Draft of letter from Harry S. Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt, 05/17/1948
Truman explains his general low regard for most conscientious objectors in this draft to Eleanor Roosevelt. However he makes special mention of one, more than likely Desmond Doss, featured earlier this week. (Although Doss was an Army medic, not a Navy Corpsman.)
During World War II, Private First Class Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector who refused to carry or touch a weapon. He served as a medic and was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945 for his heroic action assisting injured soldiers near Urasoe-Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands.
Photograph of Private First Class Desmond T. Doss, 05/15/1945
On January 26, 1945, 2nd Lieutenant Audie Murphy climbed atop a burning tank destroyer and held 2 companies of German infantry and 6 tanks at bay, with only a mounted machine gun and field telephone to direct artillery fire, until a counter attack could be mounted. This is just one of several narratives describing his actions which earned him the Medal of Honor.
Just six months earlier then-Sergeant Murphy had earned the Distinguished Service Cross.
Sergeant Alvin C. York, 328th Infantry, who with aid of 17 men, captured 132 German prisoners; shows hill on which raid took place. Argonne Forest, near Cornay, France. 02/07/1919
York, who stated on his draft registration card “…Don’t want to fight,” would later be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions from October 8, 1918.
May 25 - Letter from William Carney to General Fred C. Ainsworth
In this letter William H. Carney of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry acknowledges his receipt of a Congressional Medal of Honor. Carney’s actions at the Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18 1863 were the earliest by an African American to earn the Medal of Honor.
