1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Nobody is just one thing. 7 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 2: For example, an accountant is more than someone who crunches 8 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 2: numbers all day. They might be a mother, or a father, 9 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 2: or a sibling. They may play the guitar or volunteer 10 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 2: in a soup kitchen on the weekends. People contain multitudes, 11 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 2: and we don't always know a person entirely, even someone 12 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 2: we may see every day, like Anthony. Anthony was born 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 2: in August of nineteen twenty six in Queens, New York. 14 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 2: Unlike the Billy Joel song, it wasn't Anthony who worked 15 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 2: in a grocery store. It was his father, an Italian 16 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 2: immigrant who had come to the United States in nineteen 17 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 2: oh six. His mother, Anna, was a seamstress, born in 18 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 2: the US to parents from the Calabria region of Italy. 19 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 2: Anthony grew up in poverty, but he found solace in music. 20 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 2: He loved listening to singers like Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, 21 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 2: and he even had a tap dancing uncle on the 22 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 2: vaudeville circuit. That introduction to show business lit a fire 23 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 2: in him and inspired him to pursue his passion singing. Unfortunately, 24 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 2: Anthony's foray into performing would have to wait. He was 25 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 2: drafted into the army in nineteen forty four, where he 26 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 2: became an infantry rifleman. But fighting for his country wasn't 27 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 2: all guts and glory for an eighteen year old Italian 28 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 2: kid from New York. He was faced with a heavy 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: dose of racism, especially from a sergeant who put him 30 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 2: on KP duty whenever he could, simply because of his ethnicity. Anthony, though, 31 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 2: eventually made his way to France in January of nineteen 32 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 2: forty five, where he was placed with the sixty third 33 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 2: Infantry Division. The Allies had suffered considerable losses in the 34 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 2: Battle of the Bulge, and Anthony's battalion had been brought 35 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 2: into help. He then traveled from France to Germany, where 36 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 2: he got a close look at the horrors of war. 37 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: He would later call it a front row seat in hell. 38 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 2: But the fight raged on until Anthony pressed into Bavaria. 39 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 2: He was one of the many soldiers who helped liberate 40 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,959 Speaker 2: the Coaufering Concentration Camp, a subcamp of Dachau. One of 41 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 2: the first things that he and his men did was 42 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 2: get food and water to the people being held captive, 43 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 2: but they had been beaten down so severely that they 44 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 2: didn't think the Allies were there to help. Sadly, the 45 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 2: troops had arrived just a bit too late. Anthony learned 46 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 2: that all of the women and children had been killed already, 47 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 2: and half of the surviving captives had already been shot. 48 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 2: The experience changed him and turned him into a staunch 49 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 2: passivist for the rest of his life. But once he 50 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 2: got home, he enrolled at the American Theater Wing, a 51 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 2: New York based nonprofit that helped him reade discover his 52 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 2: love of music. Anthony soon found work as a singing waiter, 53 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 2: a job that he'd had before joining the army. He 54 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 2: even cut a few records, but didn't find much success, 55 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,119 Speaker 2: not until nineteen fifty when he was signed to Columbia 56 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 2: Records by big time record producer Mitch Miller. Miller had 57 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 2: worked with the likes of Doris Day and Dinah Shore, 58 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 2: and he heard something in Anthony, a voice that could 59 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 2: croon with the best of them. Except there was already 60 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 2: another big star already at Columbia, a guy named Frank Sinatra. 61 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 2: But Old Blue Eyes had hit a slump and his 62 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 2: last few albums had fallen short. He was leaving for 63 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 2: Capitol Records, so Anthony found himself in the unique position 64 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 2: to pick up where Sinatra had left off. He began 65 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 2: by singing popular songs of the era, and his first 66 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 2: big hit came in nineteen fifty one with his rendition 67 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 2: of the nineteen forty song Because of You. It sat 68 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 2: at number one of the Billboard charts for ten weeks 69 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 2: and sold a million copies. Over the next few years, 70 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 2: he covered countries, became a teen heart throb, and established 71 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 2: himself as the pre eminent singer of the Great American songbook. 72 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 2: But perhaps his best known hits was recorded in nineteen 73 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 2: sixty two. It was a song that followed him throughout 74 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 2: his whole career. Originally written by George Corey and Douglas 75 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 2: Cross in nineteen fifty three as a love letter to 76 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 2: their hometown. They'd come from New York to California, where 77 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 2: feeling homesick, they had penned a little ditty about their city. 78 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 2: By the bay I left my Heart in San Francisco 79 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 2: became the signature song of World War II hero Anthony 80 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 2: Dominic Benedetto, better known to audiences today as the late 81 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 2: Great Tony Bennett. Heroism can be measured in a number 82 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 2: of ways, whether someone is stopping a robbery or running 83 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 2: into a burn building to save a child. As the 84 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 2: saying goes, not all heroes wear capes, but sometimes a 85 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 2: hero is someone who chooses a different path. They use 86 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 2: their words instead of their fists. They speak up when 87 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 2: no one else will. For Desmond Doss, hero is a 88 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 2: meant fighting for his country in World War Two without 89 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 2: ever touching a gun. Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, 90 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 2: in nineteen nineteen. His father worked as a carpenter, while 91 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 2: his mother worked in a shoe factory when she wasn't 92 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 2: tending to the home. Desmond was raised as a Seventh 93 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 2: day Adventist, a denomination of Christianity that observed the Sabbath 94 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 2: on Saturday, but Dos took things a step further. He 95 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 2: was also a vegetarian and a pacifist, refusing to turn 96 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 2: to violence in any situation. He was working at a 97 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 2: shipyard in Newport News, Virginia when the attack on Pearl 98 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 2: Harbor occurred. His job granted him the option to request 99 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 2: a deferment rather than to serve, but something compelled him 100 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 2: to do more. He didn't just want to sit out 101 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,479 Speaker 2: while others were off doing their part. In listed with 102 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 2: the Army, he had hoped that being a conscientious objector 103 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 2: would be his ticket to a position as an Army 104 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 2: combat medic. He had no interest in picking up a gun. Instead, 105 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 2: he was. 106 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: Made a rifleman with the seventy seventh Infantry Division, but 107 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: Dos was a firm believer in not killing any other 108 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: living soul. He refused to carry a rifle even when 109 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: ordered to. One fellow soldier, who saw him as a 110 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: misfit and a coward, threatened to make sure he didn't 111 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: come back from the front lines alive. Others tried to 112 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: have him court martialed, but nothing worked. Dos continued to 113 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: serve while being bullied and beaten by the men in 114 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: his platoon, and he never let it get to him 115 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: during his entire military career. Then, in April of nineteen 116 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 1: forty five, Dos and his battalion were summoned to Okinawa. 117 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,159 Speaker 1: Their mission was to ascend and capture a massive four 118 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: hundred foot tall cliff known as Hacksaw Ridge. They eventually 119 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: reached the top, only to be faced with thousands of 120 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: Japanese soldiers hiding in nearby caves waiting for them. A 121 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: retreat was ordered and the men scrambled to make it 122 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: back down the cliff safely, but the Japanese soldiers prevented 123 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: many of them from getting away. A fraction of Allied 124 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: soldiers were actually able to climb back down, with many 125 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: being killed or wounded in the process, but Dos refused 126 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: to flee. He saw his fellow soldiers, the ones who 127 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: had insulted him and made his life a living hell, 128 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: dying in enemy territory, and he couldn't just leave them there. 129 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: He ran back toward the fight, spending hours dragging men 130 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: to the edge of the cliff and lowering them down 131 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: a makeshift rope sling that he had fashioned together himself. 132 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: The army believed his bravery has saved the lives of 133 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: one hundred soldiers, but Doss claimed that he had only 134 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: managed to rescue fifty. The army split the difference and 135 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: noted the final number at seventy five, and that wasn't 136 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: the end of his heroic feats. Days after the events 137 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: at Hacksaw Ridge, the young Seventh Day Adventist was wounded 138 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: by shrapnel from a Japanese grenade. It embedded itself in 139 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: his legs and hip, but not wanting to bring another 140 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: medic into danger, he dressed the wounds himself as best 141 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: he could. He then crawled to safety, only to find 142 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: himself in a sniper's crosshairs. The bullet from the rifle 143 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: shattered the bones in DOS's arm, but when several of 144 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: his fellow soldiers tried to haul him away on a stretcher, 145 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: he gave it up so that they could take another 146 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: man who was in worse shape. Until the bitter end, 147 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: Desmond Doss put others above himself. Surprisingly, despite his severe wounds, 148 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: Dos survived the war. He received the Medal of Honor 149 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 1: for his bravery and for saving the lives of dozens 150 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: of men. He passed away in two thousand and six 151 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: at the age of eighty seven. Desmond Doss had demonstrated 152 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: true heroism during World War II by picking up a 153 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: bandage and a rope instead of a rifle. I hope 154 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,359 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 155 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 156 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 157 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 158 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 159 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 160 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. 161 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,479 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.