By Casey Allen

While the majority of the attention Hollywood has paid to WWII has been focused primarily on the European theatre Mel Gibson’s latest directorial effort Hacksaw Ridge centers around the less-remembered Pacific campaign. The film is based on the true story of Army Medic then-Private First Class Desmond Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia.  Doss, the son of an abusive alcoholic father and WWI veteran, entered the Army as a conscientious objector shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.