Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB921 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 921
5	5	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Master Sergeant Roderick ‘‘Roddie’’
6	6	Edmonds in recognition of his heroic actions during World War II.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY4, 2025
9	9	Mr. B
10	10	URCHETT(for himself, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms. WASSERMANSCHULTZ,
11	11	Mr. R
12	12	OSE, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. COSTA, Mr. LAWLER, Mr.
13	13	C
14	14	ARSON, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. ZINKE, and Mr. NEAL) introduced
15	15	the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Serv-
16	16	ices
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Master Sergeant
19	19	Roderick ‘‘Roddie’’ Edmonds in recognition of his heroic
20	20	actions during World War II.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Master Sergeant 4
25	25	Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
26	26	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
27	27	Congress finds the following: 7
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30	30	•HR 921 IH
31	31	(1) Roderick W. Edmonds (in this Act referred 1
32	32	to as ‘‘Roddie Edmonds’’ or ‘‘Edmonds’’) was born 2
33	33	in 1919 in South Knoxville, Tennessee, and grad-3
34	34	uated from Knoxville High School in 1938. 4
35	35	(2) Roddie Edmonds was a Master Sergeant in 5
36	36	the United States Army and a member of the 422nd 6
37	37	Infantry Regiment while serving during World War 7
38	38	II. 8
39	39	(3) Roddie Edmonds landed in Europe in 1944 9
40	40	and fought to the border between Belgium and Ger-10
41	41	many. In December of 1944, while fighting in the 11
42	42	Battle of the Bulge, Edmonds was captured by Nazi 12
43	43	forces and detained in Stalag IX–A, a prisoner of 13
44	44	war camp in Ziegenhain, Germany. 14
45	45	(4) Stalag IX–A was a site used to identify, 15
46	46	segregate, and remove Jewish soldiers from the gen-16
47	47	eral population of prisoners of war and many of the 17
48	48	Jewish soldiers who were so removed were sent to 18
49	49	labor camps or murdered. Members of the Armed 19
50	50	Forces were warned of this policy and aware that 20
51	51	their fellow servicemen could be at risk. 21
52	52	(5) As the senior noncommissioned officer in 22
53	53	Stalag IX–A, Master Sergeant Edmonds was re-23
54	54	sponsible for 1,292 members of the Armed Forces at 24
55	55	the camp. Approximately 1 month after the date on 25
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59	59	which Edmonds was detained, Edmonds was di-1
60	60	rected to order the Jewish-American soldiers under 2
61	61	his command to fall out in order to separate the 3
62	62	Jewish-American soldiers from their fellow prisoners. 4
63	63	(6) Defying the orders of the Nazis, Roddie Ed-5
64	64	monds commanded all of his men to fall out and, the 6
65	65	following morning, all of the 1,292 members of the 7
66	66	Armed Forces under the command of Edmonds 8
67	67	stood outside of their prison barracks. 9
68	68	(7) Upon seeing the soldiers, a German officer 10
69	69	angrily shouted, ‘‘They cannot all be Jews!’’, to 11
70	70	which Edmonds replied, ‘‘We are all Jews here’’. 12
71	71	(8) The German officer took out his pistol and 13
72	72	pointed the gun at the head of Edmonds, but Ed-14
73	73	monds refused to identify the Jewish soldiers. In-15
74	74	stead, Edmonds responded, ‘‘According to the Gene-16
75	75	va Convention, we only have to give our name, rank, 17
76	76	and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have 18
77	77	to shoot all of us and, after the war, you will be 19
78	78	tried for war crimes’’. 20
79	79	(9) The German officer turned away from Ed-21
80	80	monds and the other soldiers and left the scene. The 22
81	81	actions taken by Edmonds saved the lives of ap-23
82	82	proximately 200 Jewish-American members of the 24
83	83	Armed Forces. 25
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87	87	(10) Lester Tanner, a Jewish-American mem-1
88	88	ber of the Armed Forces also captured during the 2
89	89	Battle of the Bulge, witnessed the incident and stat-3
90	90	ed that, ‘‘There was no question in my mind, or that 4
91	91	of Master Sergeant Edmonds, that the Germans 5
92	92	were removing the Jewish prisoners from the general 6
93	93	population at great risk to their survival. The U.S. 7
94	94	Army’s standing command to its ranking officers in 8
95	95	POW camps is that you resist the enemy and care 9
96	96	for the safety of your men to the greatest extent 10
97	97	possible. Master Sergeant Edmonds, at the risk of 11
98	98	his immediate death, defied the Germans with the 12
99	99	unexpected consequences that the Jewish prisoners 13
100	100	were saved’’. 14
101	101	(11) Edmonds survived 100 days in captivity 15
102	102	and returned home after the war. Later, Edmonds 16
103	103	served the United States in Korea as a member of 17
104	104	the National Guard. Edmonds died in 1985, but 18
105	105	never told his family or anyone else of his brave ac-19
106	106	tions outside the barracks of Stalag IX–A during 20
107	107	World War II. 21
108	108	(12) Edmonds was posthumously recognized by 22
109	109	Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance 23
110	110	Center in Jerusalem, as ‘‘Righteous Among the Na-24
111	111	tions’’, the first member of the Armed Forces and 25
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115	115	1 of only 5 people of the United States to be so rec-1
116	116	ognized. Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem, 2
117	117	announced the selection of Edmonds by saying, 3
118	118	‘‘Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds seemed like an 4
119	119	ordinary American soldier, but he had an extraor-5
120	120	dinary sense of responsibility and dedication to his 6
121	121	fellow human beings. . . . The choices and actions 7
122	122	of Master Sergeant Edmonds set an example for his 8
123	123	fellow American soldiers as they stood united against 9
124	124	the barbaric evil of the Nazis’’. 10
125	125	(13) 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of 11
126	126	the conclusion of WWII and the atrocities of the 12
127	127	Holocaust as well as the 40th anniversary of the 13
128	128	passing of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds. 14
129	129	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 15
130	130	(a) A
131	131	WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 16
132	132	House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 17
133	133	of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 18
134	134	posthumous award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal 19
135	135	of appropriate design to Roddie Edmonds in recognition 20
136	136	of his achievements and heroic actions during World War 21
137	137	II. 22
138	138	(b) D
139	139	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purpose of the 23
140	140	award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 24
141	141	Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 25
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145	145	strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 1
146	146	inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 2
147	147	(c) P
148	148	RESENTATION AND AWARD OFMEDAL.—The 3
149	149	gold medal referred to in subsection (a) shall be presented, 4
150	150	and following the presentation awarded, to his son, Pastor 5
151	151	Christopher Waring Edmonds, or the next of kin of 6
152	152	Roddie Edmonds. 7
153	153	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 8
154	154	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 9
155	155	bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 under 10
156	156	such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price 11
157	157	sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, mate-12
158	158	rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 13
159	159	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 14
160	160	(a) N
161	161	ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck under 15
162	162	this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 16
163	163	of title 31, United States Code. 17
164	164	(b) N
165	165	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 18
166	166	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 19
167	167	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 20
168	168	items. 21
169	169	Æ
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