US HB921

Awards a Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to Master Sergeant Roderick "Roddie" Edmonds for his heroic actions during World War II

Edmonds, as senior noncommissioned officer at Stalag IX-A POW camp in Germany, defied Nazi orders to identify Jewish-American soldiers among the 1,292 prisoners under his command, declaring "We are all Jews here" when confronted at gunpoint

His actions saved approximately 200 Jewish-American soldiers from being sent to labor camps or murdered

Edmonds was the first U.S. Armed Forces member recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem

The medal will be presented to his son, Pastor Christopher Waring Edmonds, with bronze duplicates authorized for public sale by the Secretary of the Treasury