The assault went forward after Doss completed his reading. What happened on the escarpment that morning is the action for which he received the Medal of Honor.
## After May 5: The Night of May 21
Desmond Doss’s actions at Okinawa did not end on May 5. He remained with his unit as the fighting continued southward toward Shuri — the complex of fortified positions that anchored the Japanese defense line in central Okinawa.
On the night of May 21, 1945, his unit walked into a Japanese company during a night attack. In the close-range confusion that followed, a grenade landed among Doss and three other soldiers. By one account, he used his boot to try to deflect it. The grenade detonated and wounded him in both legs. He treated his own wounds as best he could and lay in the exposed position where he had been hit, waiting for litter bearers. He waited approximately five hours.
When litter bearers finally reached him, a more critically wounded soldier was nearby. Doss told the bearers to take the other man first. He removed himself from the litter to make room for a soldier whose injuries he judged more serious than his own.
While he waited for the bearers to return, the unit came under attack by enemy tanks. The bearers took cover. Doss helped himself and another wounded man move until he could reach a safer position. In the process, he was hit by a sniper’s bullet that passed through his wrist and elbow and lodged in his upper arm, causing a compound fracture.