The Black and White

by August Pittman

What would it be like to learn a family secret through a New York Times article involving a former president? 

Pastor Chris Edmonds could tell you that. His father carried an incredible story to the grave and Pastor Edmonds now travels the world telling his father’s story and a message of kindness. On October 22, ten students were from Pilgrim High School along with the Social Studies Department joined an event at Bishop McVinney Auditorium with hundreds of attendees from high schools around the state.

As the 22nd was a professional development day, the students that went were doing so during on a day on which they had no school. Social Studies teachers went as part of their professional development. 

Pastor Edmonds found the story of a former soldier who worked under his father, Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, in a news article about him selling his home to former President Nixon. The brief mention of his father in the article caught Pastor Edmond’s attention. After reading this, he found that former soldier and met with him to hear his father’s story. 

On January 27, 1945, as Germany’s defeat loomed, Edmonds was in charge of the American soldiers in a prison camp who were captured during the Battle of the Bulge. One day the Germans ordered only Jewish-American Soldiers to go out for roll call. Instead, Edmonds gathered all POWs and with a gun to his head declared, “We are all Jews here,” threatening the commandant that he would be prosecuted for war crimes if he harmed any of them, as the Geneva Convention did not require a soldier to state their religion, only “Name, Rank, and Serial Number. This courageous act is credited with saving up to 200 Jewish-American soldiers from execution. After many days in captivity, the Germans ordered everyone to march out, but Edmonds boldly resisted until the Germans relented. 

After being released, Roddie lived a quiet life, never mentioning his heroic acts. That is changing now, as is now one of the Righteous Among the Nations, the highest honor Israel awards to a non-Jew saving Jewish people during the Holocaust. In addition, Pastor Edmonds wrote the book No Surrender to spread his father’s story. 

He emphasized during his talk that you can make a difference, even as an ordinary person, simply by living your life well. By being kind, accepting, and understanding, you can change the world. 

Not to leave off on a dark note, he engaged everyone there in a song about Kentucky Fried Chicken in a Pizza Hut. Several of our own history teachers demonstrated the sophisticated dance. 

Pilgrim students and teachers learned a lot that Tuesday about history and living the best possible life.