The U.S. Army has announced that Staff Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, a World War II veteran who helped save hundreds of Jewish American soldiers from Nazi persecution, will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration.

Edmonds, who was born and raised in South Knoxville, Tennessee, served with the 352nd Infantry Regiment, 88th Division in Europe. In December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, he and his unit were overrun by German forces and taken prisoner. Edmonds and other captured soldiers were marched to a German prisoner-of-war camp.

At the camp, German guards ordered all Jewish American soldiers to step forward for separation and likely deportation to concentration camps. At great personal risk, Edmonds, then the senior American officer present, ordered all 1,275 captured U.S. soldiers to stand together, refusing to single out Jews. When a German officer demanded that “the Jews” be handed over, Edmonds said:
“We are all Jews here.”

Edmonds ensured that none of the Jewish American soldiers under his command were identified or separated from the rest of the unit. Many of those individuals later credited Edmonds with saving their lives. His courage has been remembered by survivors and descendants as an act of bravery. Edmonds and his men endured the remainder of the war in the POW camp and were eventually liberated.

In recent years, advocates, including descendants of those he saved and historical organizations, including Yad-Vashem, pushed for Edmonds to receive the Medal of Honor. These efforts finally resulted in the Department of Defense’s decision to award him the highest possible honor. The award ceremonywill take place later this year, with government officials and Jewish community representatives scheduled to attend.