Roddie Edmonds

Portrait of Master Sargent Roddie Edmonds

Knoxville, Tennessee born Roddie Edmonds of the 422nd Infantry Regiment in the United States Armed Forces is the fifth American and the first American serviceman from World War II to be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for his rescuing Jewish servicemen at the Stalag IXA POW Camp in Germany.

"...Edmonds seemed like an ordinary American soldier, but he had an extraordinary sense of responsibility and dedication to his fellow human beings," Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.[1]

Edmonds was captured by Nazi forces on 19 December 1944. As the senior noncommissioned officer (Master Sargent), Edmonds was responsible for the camps 1,275 American POWs.

The camp commandant ordered Edmonds to tell only the Jewish-American soldiers to present themselves at the next morning's assembly so they could be separated from the other prisoners. Instead, Edmonds ordered all 1,275 to assemble outside their barracks. The German commandant rushed up to Edmonds in a fury, placed his pistol against Edmonds' head and demanded that he identify the Jewish soldiers under his command. Instead, Edmonds responded "We are all Jews here," [2] and threatened to have the commandant investigated and prosecuted for war crimes after the conflict ended, should any of Edmonds' men be harmed. The commandant backed down. Edmonds' actions are credited with saving up to 200 Jewish-American soldiers from nearly certain death.

Edmonds survived 100 days of captivity, and returned home after the war, but never told his family of his actions.

His wife gave his son, Baptist Rev. Chris Edmonds, a couple of the diaries his father had kept while in the POW camp. Rev. Edmonds began researching his story, locating several of the Jewish soldiers his father saved, who provided witness statements to Yad Vashem. Rev. Edmonds is currently seeking to have his father's bravery recognized with the Medal of Honor.

See also

106th Infantry Division (United States)#Notable members

References

  1. ↑ http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/pressroom/pressreleases/pr_details.asp?cid=960#!prettyPhoto
  2. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/europe/us-pow-holocaust-hero/index.html

External links

http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=11025207 Entry at Yad Vashem database

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.