Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor for protecting about 200 Jewish American prisoners of war and daring a German officer to shoot him. (Chris Edmonds)
WASHINGTON — Chris Edmonds knew his father, Roddie, served during World War II, was captured and came home.
“He never told us anything about his experience … and took it to the grave,” Edmonds said.
Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds died in 1985. Chris learned about his father’s actions in 2013 from a prisoner of war who said Edmonds deserved the Medal of Honor.
And on Feb. 3, Chris received a call from President Donald Trump to inform him that his father would posthumously receive the nation’s highest award for courage under fire.
“He said, ‘Well, I’m surrounded by a bunch of high-level military leaders now, and so they are very excited about this and they look forward to meeting you,’ ” Edmonds said.
The White House confirmed Thursday that Edmonds would receive the Medal of Honor.
Edmonds, of Knoxville, Tenn., was serving in the U.S. Army’s 106th Infantry Division, 422nd Infantry Regiment when he was captured by the Germans in December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. He, along with other Americans, were taken to Stalag IXA, a camp near Ziegenhain, Germany. Edmonds was held captive for 100 days.
A Nazi officer ordered Edmonds, the senior American noncommissioned officer, to line up more than 1,200 American troops in the camp and for Jewish soldiers to fall out separately. Edmonds ordered all POWs — Jews and non-Jews alike — to stand together.
When the German officer in charge saw that all the camp’s inmates were standing in front of their barracks, he turned to Edmonds and said, “They cannot all be Jews.”
“We are all Jews,” Edmonds fearlessly pronounced.
The German took out his pistol and threatened Edmonds.
“Dad looked at him in the eyes, square in the eyes, because he was that kind of a guy that always made eye contact,” Chris said. “He looked him in his eyes and said, ‘Major, you can shoot me, but you’ll have to kill all of us because we know who you are, and you’ll be a war criminal when we win this war.’ ”
Edmonds then added the dagger in his heart, Chris said. “And you will pay.”
“He basically turned the tables on that major and said, ‘You know you’re gonna pay for this, and you don’t want to do this,’ ” Chris said.
The German gave up, turned around and left. Edmonds saved about 200 Jewish Americans.
Edmonds again stood his ground months later in a showdown with Nazi guards who ordered the POWs to evacuate the camp into a death march, according to his son.
“He was just an ordinary guy, just like the rest of us, but he had a real sense of moral clarity about right and wrong because of his faith,” Chris said.
Edmonds also served in the 1st Cavalry division during the Korean War, earning the combat infantryman’s badge, according to the Knox County (Tenn.) Archives.
And Chris, an interim pastor at Oakwood Baptist Church in Knoxville, said he never knew much about it.
Edmonds was still in the National Guard when he was called back. He served in Korea for at least eight months before coming home.
“It was bloody, brutal and cold once it turned to winter. And you know that’s what he experienced at the Battle of the Bulge,” Edmonds said. “He’s probably thinking, ‘What in the world? You know, God, I love you, but I’ve had enough.’ ”
On Feb. 10, 2015, Edmonds was posthumously recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, a title awarded by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from extermination by Nazis during the Holocaust.
He is one of five Americans, as well as the first American service member, to earn the honor.
Chris said he hopes to get a moment in Heaven to ask his dad why he didn’t tell the family about his actions. He recalls that he did press his father about it.
“ ’Son, the heroes are buried over there,’ ” Chris remembers Edmonds saying about troops who paid the ultimate sacrifice. “ ‘They’re the ones who saved my life.’ He said, ‘I wouldn’t be here if some of the men, some of my boys, hadn’t have died for me.’ ”
A historical marker in Knoxville, Tenn., for Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, who will receive the Medal of Honor. (U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett/Facebook)
Chris worked with then-Rep. John “Jimmy” Duncan and then-Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker for a recommendation to remove a five-year statute of limitations rule so his father could be considered for the nation’s highest honor. The package of information was submitted in 2014.
He knew the award was likely to happen because the Army and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had signed off.
Chris was given a head’s up that a “high-ranking military official” would call, but he did not expect it to be the president.
Edmonds will be one of four service members to receive the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on March 2, his son said.
Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis and retired Navy Capt. Royce Williams will also receive the nation’s highest award for courage under fire. Ollis died saving the life of a Polish counterpart in Afghanistan in 2013, and Williams was involved in a secretive dogfight with seven Soviet fighter planes more than 70 years ago.
The White House did not respond to questions about the ceremony and the fourth person to receive the Medal of Honor.
