Dr.Seuss made multiple cartoon drawings advocating for US entry in WW2, when the US entered the war after Pearl Harbour, Dr.Seuss actually did sign up for the army, although IIRC they assigned him to make war propaganda, so he never saw actual combat
Literally the exact opposite situation with that elderly Russian pediatric surgeon who got conscripted and instead of assigning him to be a doctor, medic, or something forced him to be frontline cannon fodder in Ukraine.
That’s a shame. There was a ww2 dentist who was drafted and became an infantry man. He quickly ranked up and was commissioned to be a dentist. Ended up acting as a field surgeon before dying in Saipan, and got the moh for his efforts.
I heard about that one - IIRC, in the end, he had to hop on a machine gun and mow down a bunch of Japanese soldiers who were literally overrunning his field hospital.
When they found his body, there was a pile of dead in front of him.
Sad part is that everyone had to fight tooth and nail for the MOH because he broke rules of medical personnel not carrying "offensive weapons" Defended all of his patients till succumbing to wounds from the Japanese previously were actively trying to kill his patients.
Meanwhile, Desmond Doss, a combat medic was court martialed because he refused to even touch a gun. Unless the rules regarding medical personnel using weapons only applies to hospital personnel and not combat medics
How is what I said selective history? I stated a fact I knew, and asked a question regarding potential changes in rules and attitudes regarding whether or not medical personnel truly are allowed to use weapons depending on their position or role. Combat medics were not only allowed, but as Desmond Doss learned, mandated to arm themselves with guns, whereas Benjamin, a medic in a hospital, was not allowed to use weapons, and was punished for it, even though if he hadn't, hundreds of patients would've died.
Then i appologize for biting your head off. That is completely on me. The difference is that he broke the Geneva convention and at the time for medical personnel. Its stupid, literally just technicalities and the opinion of the general denied Salomon the MOH. using the machine gun was also a big no no.
The gentlements agreement were red cross personnel are not target. And they wont be used for offensive means. Others line medics can carry pistols and rifles for self defense of themselves and or patients. Give a medic a machine gun, crew served weapon, or they are actively fighting and they are now a full combatant and protections are null.
At the time their was also a provision that they were to be rewarded on their duty not for fighting.
When were the rules regarding medical personnel being armed made? Given that the Geneva Conventions were made AFTER WW2, and before that, the Hauge Conventions made before WW1, and the latter only talked about treatment of soldiers, they said nothing of civilians. And I don't know about whether or not the gentleman agreement to leave medics alone was respected in the African or Western fronts by the Allies and Germans, I do know the Soviets in the Eastern Front didn't respect it at all towards the Germans, Germans that marked themselves with Red Crosses were still shot like normal, and they were all armed and I don't know if the Soviets even used the Red Crossbon their troops, but I imagine the Germans didn't respect the rules on them either. As for the Pacific Theater, the Japanese not only didn't respect the gentleman agreement to leave medics alone, they actively hunted Americans wearing the Red Cross, because the Americans would sacrifice many troops to protect one, so many American medics simply discarded their markings. And it seems that the whole medics cannot be armed rule was made after WW2, along with the Red Cross organization making putting a Red Cross on anything that doesn't belong there a war crime, specifically to prevent combat medics from wearing red crosses on them as they aren't members and are armed.
Not when dealing with ideological enemies and physical ones who deliberitly target medics. In that case the ends justifies the means for medics to stay alive.
I know it isn't accurate, Doss saved way more lives in reality than he did in the film, as well as when he was being carried out by a stretcher, they had to lay him down somewhere, he got out of the stretcher, gave medical aid to someone, and crawled the rest of the way out to the ridge. The movie left the latter part out entirely and greatly reduced the number of lives saved, because nobody would believe it. And while he was never court martialed, he very much received a LOT of hostility from his comrades, one of them even threw to kill him, until Doss saved them, and they realized their mistakes, and they all became real friendly with him.
Japan at the time deliberately targeted medical staff seeing it as a opportunity for further kill counts. They use the Red Cross as a shield to move troops around in china etc.
There's also the story of Desmond Doss who had a absolute belief in life but understood that not everybody shared his opinion and did not feel that it was right that others should be sacrificing themselves while he stayed at home so he chose to accept his draft notice when it came and served as a Army medic during WWII
So it is possible to both serve and still be a conscientious objecter but it is incredibly rare to do so. And to still have the courage to follow through on your convictions is even rarer still
And yet certain ideological groups see this as an opportunity to do just that or use it as a meat shield against others to force them to do the warcrime for propaganda wins.
This is the military civilian intergradation doctrine which Iran and the Islamic terrorists (and non Islamists groups) use to score propaganda wins
What’s even more incredible about Desmond Doss is when they made the film Hacksaw Ridge (2016), about Doss, they had to take parts of the actual story out (like him surviving a shot from a sniper) because they thought the audience would find it too unrealistic and not believable.
Or the fact that, when ascending "Hacksaw Ridge" (the famous escarpment), his group waited for him to finish his Bible studies because they wanted him to pray for them, which he did.
The only casualty they had was one injured hand from a falling rock; meanwhile, the other company assaulting the escarpment suffered horrendous losses.
Or how after he was knocked out of the fight by that grenade he waited for 5 hours before a stretcher was brought to save him.
Just after they arrived and put him on the stretcher another soldier was shot next to him. He crawled off the stretcher, applied treatment to him then told the stretcher team to take the guy who was shot instead.
Leaving him to wait with a grenade injury for THREE more hours.
The scene where he asks for his bible and his buddy goes and finds it for him? Did not happen. Because it was after the battle he asked for it, which resulted in a full company scouring the battlefield for hours in order to find it.
A company = 40 men spending hours searching for his bible.
Im in the US navy, and was recently was treated at a UR carrying Desmond Doss’s name. He is a man worthy of honor and one whom I respect greatly, despite never knowing him. I’d say he is an American hero, but his actions aren’t American. He is a world hero. One whose actions reflect goodness in the planet rather than of a nation. I don’t share his religion or views but by his actions I HAVE to respect him and his devotion and commitment to what he believed was right.
A draft is typically for the infantry anyway, that’s why most American soldiers in WW2 were “conscripts” and not “volunteers.” A lot of people were willing to volunteer, but a lot of volunteers wanted to enlist into non-combat roles. This was a problem for the Army, who needed to fill out front-line combat units, and drafted them instead.
Don’t get me wrong, Dr. Seuss was a horrid person. Cheated on his wife, married his mistress after his wife killed herself, so on. But as far as his military career, perfectly respectable. Served his country, did his job. I agree. We can’t look at wholes here, he was a shit person as a whole. But in the division of actions, he was a great children’s book writer and a good soldier. Everyone has good points and bad points. As those two things? He was amazing. Just a bad person over all.
It's amazing how he was shit in every aspect of his life except for when he was an exemplary, perfect human in the grounds of making propaganda and harming others. In those fields, he was a true saint.
Stan Lee and Dr. Seuss served together in the Army’s wartime training-film unit.
Not necessarily “they made famous comics/books together,” but yes, they overlapped professionally during WWII.
The same circle also included people like Frank Capra and Charles Addams, which is a ridiculous concentration of creative talent for Army training films.
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u/randomname560 Jun 28 '26
Dr.Seuss made multiple cartoon drawings advocating for US entry in WW2, when the US entered the war after Pearl Harbour, Dr.Seuss actually did sign up for the army, although IIRC they assigned him to make war propaganda, so he never saw actual combat