Peaceful Warriors Project

Army Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds by Chris Edmonds

No Surrender: A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today By Chris Edmunds and Douglass Century Review by Michael J. Thorp Like many people I grew up knowing my Dad was a soldier. He had served in Korea and had even gone back a second time because he was bored; but that is a story in itself. When I noticed Chris Edmonds book, “No Surrender”, about his father and his service in WWII I noted the promo line, “A son’s search for his father in WWII”. This son was a Baptist Minister in Tennessee and a father. As a long-time broadcaster, newsman and author I have interviewed hundreds of veterans, including my Dad, and what I discovered is that they seldom talk about the war. In my Dad’s case he could talk about how cold it was, getting leave in Japan, seeing the Ginza, the troop ship journey that took him through a typhoon in the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska. He reminded me and my brothers, (all Eagle Scouts) about the tricks to hiking and always having an extra and dry pair of sox, but nary a word on the war. When I read about Chris Edmonds story I could relate. His daughter came home from college and wanted to write a paper on her grandfather, Army Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds; a man she had never known. But she did know he had been a POW of the Nazi’s in WWII and thought his would be a great story. She came home and asked her Dad about his father, and he realized he knew nothing. He had wondered, and sort of asked, but his dad never responded well. He got the idea that dad didn’t want to talk about it. So, to his great regret he was not able to help his daughter; but he now needed to know himself. His dad, Roddy, had been dead for 20 years and he wasn’t sure where to start. So, he started where we all do these days, he googled his dad’s name and got the shock of his life. The first note that popped up was an article in the New York Times about an influential and important lawyer, Lester Tannenbaum. Could this be right? He read the article and Mr. Tannenbaum had written, “anything I accomplished was because of Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, I am alive today because of him”. Chris was stunned, could that be the same Roddy Edmunds, his dad? He compared notes, his dad had been captured at the Battle of the Bulge, he had been held at a POW Camp near Ziegenhain, Germany; the same as Lester Tannenbaum. It had to be his dad, but a hero, mentioned in the New York Times? What did his father do to earn such praise? Thus began a remarkable journey for Chris Edmonds and his family as they learned about the father’s service and his convictions that reverberate over the decades. What Chris discovered was his father was more of a hero than he could have dreamed, or imagined. “What was most remarkable about my journey to discover what my father did during the war,” Chris writes, “was the realization that any one of us has the untapped potential to do something incredibly courageous. We all have the potential to change the world simply by standing up for what’s right.” Twice, and many more times in lesser circumstances, Sgt Edmunds had saved his men. His story is well worth reading, so I don’t want to give it all away, but I will tell you what he did was heroic. The kind of thing you wonder if you could do if called on. He made others with him brave and do remarkable acts. In the Nazi prison camp, in the last weeks of the war, the Nazi’s were continuing to kill, Jews, Gypsy’s, enemies; murder was what they did and they expanded the killing as the end was coming. When Master Sgt. Edmonds, who was the senior noncommissioned officer in a prison camp for noncommissioned officers, was ordered to turn out all the Jews at six the next morning he refused. He was threatened that all would be taken. He came up with a plan. He ordered every man in camp, 1,700 plus, men who were starving and sick and dying, to turn out at six am. When the Nazi Major in charge saw what was happening, he got mad and threatening. Pulling his Lugar pistol, he said, “what is this, I ordered Jews out”. Master Sgt. Roddy Edmonds replied, with the Lugar pointed at the side of his head, “We are American Soldiers, we are all Jews.” The men, some had to be carried out because Edmonds wanted every man in place, all repeated the comment; we are all Jews. Too many witnesses for the German officer; the German Major left. It wasn’t over but they made it through another day. A powerful book and story about a man of faith who had faith and acted in God’s mercy for his friends and fellow soldiers. The book is a true journey by Chris Edmunds to discover his father and the heroism that lives today in the lives of thousands of descendants alive today because of his actions. I couldn’t put it down’ a story of a son’s journey to meet his dad. About the war, the Battle of the Bulge, POW camps, Nazi atrocities, death and about life. A story that will reinforce your belief in human nature. Michael J. Thorp is a long-time television and radio broadcaster, the host of Capitol Memories on line at Capitoltheatreflint.com, the host and producer of the Flint Jewish Federation’s “Humanity in Harmony Music Festival, and the author of five books on Michigan including “Michigan’s Thumb Drive” and “The Great, Great Lakes Trivia Test”, available at www.michhaeljthorp.com. His next book, “Michiganians You Should Know: (Plus, Some You Do But Don’t Know Why)”, will be released this summer. https://www.amazon.com/No-Surrender-Extraordinary-Heroism-Continues/dp/0062905015