"Lord, please help me get one more." Stockton, a Seventh-Day Adventist who refused to bear arms but enlisted as a medic in the US Army, is on the battlefield on Okinawa in the spring of 1945. Armed with nothing but a bible, he's carrying his wounded comrades to safety, one by one, through enemy fire, repeatedly asking God to "help me get one more."
Arji Stockton grew up in Vancouver, Canada, the middle child of George Stockton, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Stockton. From a young age, he was captivated by a framed poster of the Ten Commandments, and in particular the illustration that accompanied the Sixth Commandment: a drawing of Cain killing his brother Abel. Though his father, a World War I veteran, was often drunk and depressed, his mother was a woman of strong faith who regularly took her children to church. There was a time that George Stockton was so angry to his son Arji. George took a gun and aim it to his son. When Arji is trying to get the gun from his father, he accidentally pull the trigger aiming to his younger brother, Samuel Stockton. Starting on that day, he never want to touch a gun again.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Stockton was working at a shipyard in Newport, a position which made him eligible for deferment. Though taking it might have been an easier means of staying true to his convictions, Stockton felt a moral obligation to serve, especially because the fight was not just for freedom but for religious liberty.
Arji explains to his loved ones back home why he feels he wants to serve in military. Though he's a pacifist, he feels the need to serve his country as a medic.
"I always dreamed about being a doctor but I didn't get a chance. I can't stay here while all of them go and fight for me.", Arji said with his furious eyes.
"You are insane. It is war, not just a war. Did you just think that this war is like a scene in your head? No! You are insane.", he's father stated.
"I'm not yet insane but letting go this opportunity will make me. While everybody is sacrificing their lives, I'm going to be there, waiting and saving all of them as much as I can. That's my way of serving.", Arji preached.
He believed that serving as a medic would prevent him from having to break the Fourth Commandment, as he argued, "Christ healed on the Sabbath."
Stockton did fall to a nurse named Yna Payton, and he did walk several miles from his home to the hospital to donate blood after hearing a call for volunteers that he heard on radio.
Stockton, "I fell in love with you because you weren't like anyone else."
Payton, "I don't know how I'm going to live if you're not here beside me. Because you're my light in this world full of darkness."
Stockton viewed himself not as a conscientious objector, but a conscientious cooperator. Unlike objectors, he was eager to wear the uniform, salute the American flag and serve his country.
And he arrived for basic training at Fort Knox in Louiseville, Kentucky, he quickly became alienated from his fellow soldiers, and his small stature and soft-spoken demeanor didn't do him any favors. The Army made Stockton's life hell during training. It started out as harassment and then it became abusive.
"Are you grinning at me private, or is that your natural state?", Corporal Tom Garette, a personnel from US Government, asked.
"No Corporal!", Arji answered rapidly.
"Name, Private? What's your name?", Corporal Tom Garette latch unto something.
"Arji Stockton"
"I have seen stalks of corn with better physiques. Makes me want to pull an ear off, Private. Can you carry your weight?", Corporal Tom Garette stated.
