By: Frances Doss
Hennepin County Library paperback 151 pages plus photos
Published: 2005
Genre: non-fiction, biography
I have seen clips of Hacksaw Ridge but haven't yet watched the full movie. I was curious about the truth behind the story so I got this book. Written by his second wife, it wasn't as enjoyable to read as I had anticipated.
Page 18: ""Will Jesus make Harold well?' asked Desmond.
'We don't know for sure, honey. We always want to ask that God's will be done. But we can always ask.' So mother and son knelt beside the sick boy's bed, and Mother prayed . . . "
I love that the mom prayed for God's will and didn't give her son false hope about praying for what they wanted. This is hard to do! We want our own will, which is definitely not as good as what God wills.
Page 25: "People who pay tithe have found that nine-tenths goes further than ten-tenths."
Tithing is not "logical" in the world's way of doing things, but God's way is so much better! It's amazing how faithfulness to God can open doors and windows for you.
Page 111: "The bronchoscope was to stretch his bronchial tubes so that he could breath (sic) better."
I read this sentence at least three times. "Breath" should be "breathe," but typos happen. They still bug me, though.
Page 121: "'Honey, I'm your hearing ear dog,' Dorothy told him."
This made me laugh. Dorothy was his first wife.
Page 131: "With a chuckle, the pastor's wife said, 'Desmond, you don't shop for a wife like you shop for a car.'"
The end of the previous chapter has Desmond vowing to wait for two years after Dorothy's death to get remarried (out of respect), but then he's looking for someone to cook for him and be his hearing person a year after. Yuk.
Page 138: "But for their honeymoon, they went to North Carolina for the weekend with their son Mike, his wife Tracy, and their two boys, Christopher and Jonathon."
I read that and thought, "What the heck?" He and Dorothy had a son named Thomas. This was the first mention of "Mike" and I wondered where he had happened along. Later on page 143, ". . . they lived near their son and his wife, Michael and Tracy Duman." Frances' married name as a widow was Frances Duman. It's nice that her son Michael accepted Desmond as his "dad," but this is a strange way to introduce him to the readers.
This reads like an amateur's work, which it is. She devoted as many pages to their courtship and marriage as to Desmond's experiences in WWII. Actually, my main takeaway from the book was that he was insistent about going to church on the Sabbath (Saturday), being a vegetarian, and not using a weapon. The Seventh Day Adventist focus was a little off-putting, but his faith in the Lord and focus on prayer was inspirational. I will still watch the movie, but this book didn't do much for me. I did like seeing the photos included at the end.
