A Righteous Act

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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            Often, columns are tied to anniversaries, but that is not the case this week. Instead, because of all the political divisiveness and especially anti-Semitism going around, I decided it was time to tell the story of someone who inspires us to be better people.

Roderick W. "Roddie" Edmonds was born in 1919 in South Knoxville, Tennessee. He grew up attending a Methodist church and graduated from Knoxville High in 1938. He enlisted in the Army and during World War II he rose to the rank of master sergeant.

Edmonds was with the 106^th Infantry Division when it arrived in the Hurtgen Forest in December 1944. Only five days later, the Germans launched a massive offensive in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. During it, on December 21, 1944, Edmonds was captured. He was sent to the prisoner of war camp Stalag IX-B, and soon after he and other prisoners were transferred to Stalag IX-A near Ziegenhain in Germany. As the senior noncommissioned officer there, Master Sergeant Edmonds was responsible for the camp's 1275 American POWs.

On January 27, 1945 -- as Germany's defeat was clearly approaching – the commandant of Stalag IX-A 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. Fearing for their lives, that morning Edmonds ordered all 1275 POWs to assemble outside their barracks.

The German commandant rushed up to Edmonds in a fury. He placed his pistol against Edmonds's head and demanded that he identify the Jewish soldiers under his command. Instead, Edmonds responded, "We are all Jews here." He told the commandant that if he wanted to shoot the Jews he would have to shoot all of the prisoners. He then warned the commandant that if he harmed any of Edmonds's men, the commandant would be prosecuted for war crimes after the conflict ended. The Geneva Conventions required prisoners to give only their name, rank, and serial number; religion was not required.

The commandant backed down. Edmonds's actions were believed to have saved over 200 Jewish-American soldiers from death. 

After Stalag IX-A was liberated, Edmonds returned home but kept the event at the POW camp to himself -- he never even told his family about it. He was again recruited to service during the Korean War. After returning from Korea, he worked various jobs, including for The Knoxville Journal and in sales related to mobile homes and cable television.

When Roddie Edmonds died in August 1985, 12 days shy of his 66^th birthday, he still had not told anyone about his defiance in the prison camp and thus had not received any official recognition, citation, or medal for his act.

Sometime after his death, Edmonds's widow gave his son, Chris Edmonds, a couple of the diaries his father had kept while in the POW camp. Chris Edmonds, a Baptist minister, began reading the diaries and stumbled upon a mention of the event at the POW camp. He located several of the Jewish soldiers his father saved and they provided witness statements to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Among the Jewish-American POW servicemen who were saved was Sonny Fox, an American television host and executive, who witnessed and later recounted Edmonds's actions.

On February 10, 2015, Yad Vashem recognized Edmonds as “Righteous Among Nations,” Israel's highest honor for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The awards ceremony was held on January 27, 2016, at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., where President Barack Obama praised Roddie Edmonds for action "above and beyond the call of duty," and echoed Edmonds's statement: “We are all Jews here.” Chris Edmonds received the Righteous medal and certificate of honor from Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer and Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Lau on his father's behalf at the ceremony.

Chris Edmonds has sought to have his father's bravery recognized with the Medal of Honor. However, the U.S. Army position was that Sergeant Edmonds was a captive, and therefore ineligible because his actions were not in combat. To overcome this obstacle, on March 23, 2016, Rep. John Duncan of Tennessee introduced H.R. 4863 to recognize Edmonds with a Congressional Gold Medal, one of the two highest civilian awards in the U.S. (The other is the Presidential Medal of Freedom.)  On February 13, 2017, Republican U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee were joined by Democrat Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Ben Cardin of Maryland to introduce a bill to have Sergeant Edmonds honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. This effort is still active in Congress.

A historical marker honoring Edmonds was placed in Knoxville, Tennessee, on November 15, 2020. It was donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation and the Knoxville Jewish Alliance.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books, including his latest collaboration with Bob Drury, Throne of Grace, published in May by St. Martin’s Press. Please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com to purchase a copy.