II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1134 To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Master Sergeant Rodrick ‘‘Roddie’’ Edmonds in recognition of his heroic actions during World War II. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 15, 2021 Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. COTTON, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous- ing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Master Sergeant Rodrick ‘‘Roddie’’ Edmonds in recognition of his heroic actions during World War II. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Master Sergeant 4 Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Rodrick W. Edmonds (in this Act referred 8 to as ‘‘Roddie Edmonds’’ or ‘‘Edmonds’’) was born 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1134 IS in 1919 in South Knoxville, Tennessee, and grad- 1 uated from Knoxville High School in 1938. 2 (2) Roddie Edmonds was a Master Sergeant in 3 the United States Army and a member of the 422nd 4 Infantry Regiment while serving during World War 5 II. 6 (3) Roddie Edmonds landed in Europe in 1944 7 and fought to the border between Belgium and Ger- 8 many. In December of 1944, while fighting in the 9 Battle of the Bulge, Edmonds was captured by Nazi 10 forces and detained in Stalag IX–A, a prisoner of 11 war camp in Ziegenhain, Germany. 12 (4) Stalag IX–A was a site used to identify, 13 segregate, and remove Jewish soldiers from the gen- 14 eral population of prisoners of war and many of the 15 Jewish soldiers who were so removed were sent to 16 labor camps or murdered. Members of the Armed 17 Forces were warned of this policy and aware that 18 their fellow servicemen could be at risk. 19 (5) As the senior noncommissioned officer in 20 Stalag IX–A, Master Sergeant Edmonds was re- 21 sponsible for 1,275 members of the Armed Forces at 22 the camp. Approximately 1 month after the date on 23 which Edmonds was detained, Edmonds was di- 24 rected to order the Jewish-American soldiers under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1134 IS his command to fall out in order to separate the 1 Jewish-American soldiers from their fellow prisoners. 2 (6) Disregarding the orders of the Nazis, 3 Roddie Edmonds commanded all of his men to fall 4 out and, the following morning, all of the 1,275 5 members of the Armed Forces under the command 6 of Edmonds stood outside of their prison barracks. 7 (7) Upon seeing the soldiers, a German officer 8 angrily shouted, ‘‘They cannot all be Jews!’’, to 9 which Edmonds replied, ‘‘We are all Jews here’’. 10 (8) The German officer took out his pistol and 11 pointed the gun at the head of Edmonds, but Ed- 12 monds refused to identify the Jewish soldiers. In- 13 stead, Edmonds responded, ‘‘According to the Gene- 14 va Convention, we only have to give our name, rank, 15 and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have 16 to shoot all of us and, after the war, you will be 17 tried for war crimes’’. 18 (9) The German officer turned away from Ed- 19 monds and the other soldiers and left the scene. The 20 actions taken by Edmonds saved the lives of ap- 21 proximately 200 Jewish-American members of the 22 Armed Forces. 23 (10) Lester Tanner, a Jewish-American mem- 24 ber of the Armed Forces also captured during the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1134 IS Battle of the Bulge, witnessed the incident and stat- 1 ed that, ‘‘There was no question in my mind, or that 2 of Master Sergeant Edmonds, that the Germans 3 were removing the Jewish prisoners from the general 4 population at great risk to their survival. The U.S. 5 Army’s standing command to its ranking officers in 6 POW camps is that you resist the enemy and care 7 for the safety of your men to the greatest extent 8 possible. Master Sergeant Edmonds, at the risk of 9 his immediate death, defied the Germans with the 10 unexpected consequences that the Jewish prisoners 11 were saved’’. 12 (11) Edmonds survived 100 days in captivity 13 and returned home after the war. Later, Edmonds 14 served the United States in Korea as a member of 15 the National Guard. Edmonds died in 1985, but 16 never told his family or anyone else of his brave ac- 17 tions outside the barracks of Stalag IX–A during 18 World War II. 19 (12) Edmonds was posthumously recognized by 20 Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance 21 Center in Jerusalem, as ‘‘Righteous Among the Na- 22 tions’’, the first member of the Armed Forces and 23 1 of only 5 people of the United States to be so rec- 24 ognized. Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1134 IS announced the selection of Edmonds by saying, 1 ‘‘Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds seemed like an 2 ordinary American soldier, but he had an extraor- 3 dinary sense of responsibility and dedication to his 4 fellow human beings. . . . The choices and actions 5 of Master Sergeant Edmonds set an example for his 6 fellow American soldiers as they stood united against 7 the barbaric evil of the Nazis’’. 8 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 9 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 10 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 11 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 12 posthumous award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal 13 of appropriate design to Roddie Edmonds in recognition 14 of his achievements and heroic actions during World War 15 II. 16 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 17 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 18 Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 19 strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 20 inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 21 (c) PRESENTATION AND AWARD OF MEDAL.—The 22 gold medal referred to in subsection (a) shall be presented, 23 and following the presentation awarded, to the next of kin 24 of Roddie Edmonds. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1134 IS SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 1 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 2 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 under 3 such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price 4 sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, mate- 5 rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and 6 the cost of the gold medal. 7 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 8 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 9 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 10 of title 31, United States Code. 11 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 12 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 13 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 14 items. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS