It isn’t often that a story appears that incorporates the very best of human attributes in one act, but today a Schindler like story was reported that is a perfect start to the holiday season by offering some genuine inspiration.
It is the courageous act of Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, the highest ranking non-commissioned officer in a German POW camp at the tail end of World War II. A story of inspiring courage that was recognized today by Israel’s Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial) as it posthumously honored Edmonds as a “Righteous Among the Nations.”
Edmonds had been captured in the Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned in a POW camp. On January 27, 1945 the camp commander ordered all the Jewish prisoners to identify themselves. Edmonds knew their likely fate were they to be singled out. Even though the death camps were no longer operational, Jewish POWs were targeted for death by being sent to slave labor camps where their chances of survival were slim.
In fact, Jewish US soldiers had been warned that if they were captured to destroy their dog tags or anything else that might identify them as Jews.
Edmonds turned to his fellow inmates and said, “We are not doing that, we are all falling out.” The camp commander looked at the 1,000 inmates standing in front of their barracks and incredulously said to Edmonds, “they cannot all be Jews.” Edmonds replied, “We are all Jews here.”
The Nazi officer again ordered Edmonds to separate the Jews. As Edmond's son recounts the story, “He turned blood-red, pulled his Luger out, pressed it into the forehead of my dad, and said, 'I'll give you one more chance. Have the Jewish men step forward or I will shoot you on the spot'.” Edmonds responded with his name, rank and serial number. “They said my dad paused, and said, 'If you shoot, you'll have to shoot us all because we know who you are and you’ll be tried for war crimes when we win this war.”
The German officer withdrew, there was to be no separating of Americans between Jews and non-Jews. It is estimated that he saved more than 200 Jewish American soldiers from an uncertain fate that day.
What adds to the powerful impact of the story is the modesty of Edmonds—he likely took his act as being perfectly normal—“no big deal” as we would say today. His story was untold for decades until his son, a Baptist minister in Tennessee, began to dig into his father’s war record after his death in 1985.
Edmonds’ story is an uplifting one that should inspire us in this joyous season. If you want to read more about Edmonds’ story go “>here.
