U.S. President Donald Trump will posthumously award a U.S. soldier who protected Jewish-American prisoners during World War II the Medal of Honor on March 2.
U.S. Army Master Sgt. Roderick (“Roddie”) Edmonds, of Knoxville, Tenn., was captured during the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945 and taken to Stalag IX-A in Ziegenhain, Germany. On the evening of Jan. 26, 1945, the Germans announced that only Jewish American prisoners were to fall out for roll call the next morning, at the threat of execution.
As the senior non-commissioned officer, Edmonds was aware of the danger facing those soldiers. He ordered all 1,200 American POWs to report for roll call, helping conceal the identity of the 200-plus Jews.
The Nazi commandant threatened to execute Edmonds unless the Jewish Americans were ordered to step forward. Still, Edmonds resisted, saying, “We are all Jews here,” and citing the rights afforded to all prisoners under the Geneva Convention until the commandant relented.
Edmonds later led a rebellion in the camp, which forced the Nazis to abandon it.
He died in 1985, with the story of his heroism coming to light only after his death. Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, later honored him as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations,” a distinction held by only five Americans.
Trump recounted Edmond’s story during a 2019 Veterans Day ceremony in New York, noting his “unbelievable and exceptional valor.” In February 2020, Trump announced that he was “strongly considering” Edmond for the Medal of Honor.
In 2016, then-U.S. President Barack Obama stated at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Washington, D.C., “I cannot imagine a greater expression of Christianity than to say, I, too, am a Jew.”
Edmonds’ son, Chris, will receive the award on his father’s behalf at the White House on Monday.
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration that may be awarded by the United States government. It is awarded to members of the Armed Forces who “distinguish themselves conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of their own lives above and beyond the call of duty.”
