Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Roddie Edmonds in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions during World War II.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 642 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 642
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
March 4, 2019
Mr. Alexander (for himself and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking,
Housing, 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 Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Rodrick W. Edmonds (in this Act referred to as ``Roddie
Edmonds'' or ``Edmonds'') was born in 1919 in South Knoxville,
Tennessee, and graduated from Knoxville High School in 1938.
(2) Roddie Edmonds was a Master Sergeant in the United
States Army and a member of the 422nd Infantry Regiment while
serving during World War II.
(3) Roddie Edmonds landed in Europe in 1944 and fought to
the border between Belgium and Germany. In December of 1944,
while fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, Edmonds was captured
by Nazi forces and detained in Stalag IX-A, a prisoner of war
camp in Ziegenhain, Germany.
(4) Stalag IX-A was a site used to identify, segregate, and
remove Jewish soldiers from the general population of prisoners
of war and many of the Jewish soldiers who were so removed were
sent to labor camps or murdered. Members of the Armed Forces
were warned of this policy and aware that their fellow
servicemen could be at risk.
(5) As the senior noncommissioned officer in Stalag IX-A,
Master Sergeant Edmonds was responsible for 1,275 members of
the Armed Forces at the camp. Approximately 1 month after the
date on which Edmonds was detained, Edmonds was directed to
order the Jewish-American soldiers under his command to fall
out in order to separate the Jewish-American soldiers from
their fellow prisoners.
(6) Disregarding the orders of the Nazis, Roddie Edmonds
commanded all of his men to fall out and, the following
morning, all of the 1,275 members of the Armed Forces under the
command of Edmonds stood outside of their prison barracks.
(7) Upon seeing the soldiers, a German officer angrily
shouted, ``They cannot all be Jews!'', to which Edmonds
replied, ``We are all Jews here''.
(8) The German officer took out his pistol and pointed the
gun at the head of Edmonds, but Edmonds refused to identify the
Jewish soldiers. Instead, Edmonds responded, ``According to the
Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank, and
serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of
us and, after the war, you will be tried for war crimes''.
(9) The German officer turned away from Edmonds and the
other soldiers and left the scene. The actions taken by Edmonds
saved the lives of approximately 200 Jewish-American members of
the Armed Forces.
(10) Lester Tanner, a Jewish-American member of the Armed
Forces also captured during the Battle of the Bulge, witnessed
the incident and stated that, ``There was no question in my
mind, or that of Master Sergeant Edmonds, that the Germans were
removing the Jewish prisoners from the general population at
great risk to their survival. The U.S. Army's standing command
to its ranking officers in POW camps is that you resist the
enemy and care for the safety of your men to the greatest
extent possible. Master Sergeant Edmonds, at the risk of his
immediate death, defied the Germans with the unexpected
consequences that the Jewish prisoners were saved''.
(11) Edmonds survived 100 days in captivity and returned
home after the war. Later, Edmonds served the United States in
Korea as a member of the National Guard. Edmonds died in 1985,
but never told his family or anyone else of his brave actions
outside the barracks of Stalag IX-A during World War II.
(12) Edmonds was posthumously recognized by Yad Vashem, the
World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, as ``Righteous
Among the Nations'', the first member of the Armed Forces and 1
of only 5 people of the United States to be so recognized.
Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem, announced the selection
of Edmonds by saying, ``Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds seemed
like an ordinary American soldier, but he had an extraordinary
sense of responsibility and dedication to his fellow human
beings. . . . The choices and actions of Master Sergeant
Edmonds set an example for his fellow American soldiers as they
stood united against the barbaric evil of the Nazis''.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Award Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives
and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate
arrangements for the posthumous award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold
medal of appropriate design to Roddie Edmonds in recognition of his
achievements and heroic actions during World War II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the award referred to
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this
Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable
emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary.
(c) Presentation and Award of Medal.--The gold medal referred to in
subsection (a) shall be presented, and following the presentation
awarded, to the next of kin of Roddie Edmonds.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck under section 3 under such regulations as the Secretary
may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof,
including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead
expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--The medals struck under this Act are national
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
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