Pastor Chris Edmonds delivered a touch of Baptist revival meeting fervor along with an inspiring story of bravery and humanity during World War II to Bryant’s community, which gathered in the Ronald K. and Kati C. Machtley Interfaith Center earlier this month.
Pastor Edmonds’ presentation for the fourth annual David M. Gold ’71 Speaker Series was sponsored by the Bryant chapter of Hillel, a national organization promoting Jewish life on college campuses.
In the waning days of the war, the pastor’s father, Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, was the senior non-commissioned officer among hundreds of American soldiers imprisoned at Stalag IX-A in Germany. On January 27, 1945, the camp commandant ordered all Jewish soldiers in the camp to assemble the next morning — an ominous sign amid the Nazi regime’s murder of millions of Jews in concentration camps.
Edmonds, a devout Christian, instead directed all the soldiers under his command to muster out, regardless of their faith. When the enraged commandant ordered him to identify the Jews in the ranks, Edmonds replied, “We are all Jews here,” defying the German officer even with a gun pointed at his forehead.
“We are all Jews here."
Edmonds told the commandant, “Major, you can shoot me, but you'll have to kill all of us because we know who you are. And you'll stand for war crimes when we win this war.” The German officer backed down; Edmonds’ bravery likely saved the lives of more than 200 Jewish-American soldiers that day.
Pastor Edmonds said his father never spoke of the incident or, indeed, about any of his experiences in the war. It was only by sheer luck that he learned the story in a 2008 New York Times interview with a Jewish man, Lester Tannen, who had witnessed the confrontation back in 1945.
Edmonds tracked down Tannenm his father’s former Army comrade, as well as another eyewitness, former combat medic Paul Stern. Their stories formed the core of Pastor Edmonds’ book, No Surrender: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier's Extraordinary Courage in the Face of Evil.
Based on the testimony of Tannen and Stern, in 2015 Roddie Edmonds was also posthumously recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations,” a term used by the Israel-based memorial group Yad Vashem to honor those who helped Jews and other victims of the Holocaust.
At a 2016 ceremony honoring Edmonds and three others on Holocaust Remembrance Day, then-President Barack Obama said Edmonds “went above and beyond the call of duty, and so did all those who joined in that line.”
“Faced with the choice of giving up his fellow soldiers and saving his own life, Roddie looked evil in the eye and dared a Nazi to shoot,” said Obama. “His moral compass never wavered. He was true to his faith.”
“Faced with the choice of giving up his fellow soldiers and saving his own life, Roddie looked evil in the eye and dared a Nazi to shoot. His moral compass never wavered. He was true to his faith.”
Pastor Edmonds noted that his father was the first U.S. soldier to be named Righteous Among the Nations, as well as the first recognized by Yad Vashem for saving American Jews.
“Another ‘number one’ is one of my favorites: he was the first Tennessean to receive the honor,” he said.
Switching from amateur historian to temporary leader of his Bryant ‘flock,’ the retired Baptist pastor exhorted those in attendance to emulate his father’s simple humanity.
“I see lots of ordinary people here today,” he told the audience. “Nothing very special about any of us, but I also see lots of hero material.”
Engaging the audience from behind his podium-turned-pulpit, Edmonds emphasized:
“One person can make all the difference. And that person is you.
“So, say it with me, loud and proud: ‘I can make a difference.’
“Now, lean over to a neighbor and say: ‘You can make a difference.’
“Now, all together: ‘We can make a difference.’”
Justin Gibner ’27, an Accounting major who attended the event, said Edmonds’ life-saving heroism continues to inspire.
“I truly believe that if everybody stood up and lived their life through their beliefs like Roddie did, the world would be a much better place,” he said.
“I truly believe that if everybody stood up and lived their life through their beliefs like Roddie did, the world would be a much better place."
Roddie Edmonds’ story “aligns with the Jewish values we strive to meet in Hillel” said Rabbi Steven Jablow, Bryant’s Jewish chaplain and director of the campus Hillel program.
“It aligns with the values taught in Christianity,” said Jablow. “It aligns with the values of all world religions, and it aligns with the universal value of living a life of meaning."
“At Bryant, we talk a lot about character, and this too aligns with Pastor Edmonds' story,” he said. “We aim for all of our students to graduate not just to make a living, but to make a difference.”
