Have you ever heard of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds? Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Edmonds served in the US Army during WWII. In late 1944, he was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and taken to a POW camp. One month later, when the Nazis gave the order for Jewish American soldiers to be singled out and report the following morning, Edmonds ordered more than 1,000 of his fellow American POWs – regardless of their religion – to step forward and stand together. He bravely told the Nazi officer, “We are all Jews,” and refused to back down even with a pistol to his head. Edmonds’ courageous actions are credited with saving the lives of more than 200 Jewish soldiers that day.
In 2015, Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds was posthumously recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, and this week, he was awarded the United States’ highest military award for valor – the Medal of Honor.
Source: Jill Goltzer
