A RIGHTEOUS SOUL

A RIGHTEOUS SOUL

Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, the chubby GI in the middle of the picture, was an affable man from Knoxville, Tennessee, who liked to crack a joke with his men, and they loved him for it. But the laughter quickly died when their regiment, the 422nd Infantry, became encircled on the Schnee Eifel during the first days of the Battle of the Bulge. Thousands upon thousands of Americans from the 106th Infantry Division were taken prisoner and sent to camps in Germany where life was much harsher than many of us today realize. Before long, Edmonds found himself in Stalag IX A. In charge of more than 1,200 American POWs in that camp near Ziegenhain, in January 1945 the Germans told Edmonds that, by the following day, they wanted to see all Jewish-American soldiers separated from the rest. The next morning, Edmonds had all of his men lined up in front of their barracks as one group. Outraged, the German commander turned to Edmonds and said, “They cannot all be Jews.” To this Edmonds calmly replied, “We are all Jews.” The German took out his pistol and threatened Edmonds. Edmonds refused to budge. The German gave up, turned around, and left the scene. Roddie Edmonds passed away in 1985. But last year, Israel’s Yad Vashem recognized him as one of The Righteous Among The Nations, bestowing upon him one of the country’s highest honors. He is the first American soldier, and only one of five Americans, to have received this honor. Photo courtesy Yad Vashem

2017-02-02T00:57:58+01:00