Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB262 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 262
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY27, 2025
9	9	Mrs. B
10	10	LACKBURN(for herself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous-
12	12	ing, and Urban Affairs
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Master Sergeant
15	15	Roderick ‘‘Roddie’’ Edmonds in recognition of his heroic
16	16	actions during World War II.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Master Sergeant 4
21	21	Roddie Edmonds Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
23	23	Congress finds the following: 7
24	24	(1) Roderick W. Edmonds (in this Act referred 8
25	25	to as ‘‘Roddie Edmonds’’ or ‘‘Edmonds’’) was born 9
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29	29	in 1919 in South Knoxville, Tennessee, and grad-1
30	30	uated from Knoxville High School in 1938. 2
31	31	(2) Roddie Edmonds was a Master Sergeant in 3
32	32	the United States Army and a member of the 422nd 4
33	33	Infantry Regiment while serving during World War 5
34	34	II. 6
35	35	(3) Roddie Edmonds landed in Europe in 1944 7
36	36	and fought to the border between Belgium and Ger-8
37	37	many. In December of 1944, while fighting in the 9
38	38	Battle of the Bulge, Edmonds was captured by Nazi 10
39	39	forces and detained in Stalag IX–A, a prisoner of 11
40	40	war camp in Ziegenhain, Germany. 12
41	41	(4) Stalag IX–A was a site used to identify, 13
42	42	segregate, and remove Jewish soldiers from the gen-14
43	43	eral population of prisoners of war and many of the 15
44	44	Jewish soldiers who were so removed were sent to 16
45	45	labor camps or murdered. Members of the Armed 17
46	46	Forces were warned of this policy and aware that 18
47	47	their fellow servicemen could be at risk. 19
48	48	(5) As the senior noncommissioned officer in 20
49	49	Stalag IX–A, Master Sergeant Edmonds was re-21
50	50	sponsible for 1,292 members of the Armed Forces at 22
51	51	the camp. Approximately 1 month after the date on 23
52	52	which Edmonds was detained, Edmonds was di-24
53	53	rected to order the Jewish-American soldiers under 25
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57	57	his command to fall out in order to separate the 1
58	58	Jewish-American soldiers from their fellow prisoners. 2
59	59	(6) Defying the orders of the Nazis, Roddie Ed-3
60	60	monds commanded all of his men to fall out and, the 4
61	61	following morning, all of the 1,292 members of the 5
62	62	Armed Forces under the command of Edmonds 6
63	63	stood outside of their prison barracks. 7
64	64	(7) Upon seeing the soldiers, a German officer 8
65	65	angrily shouted, ‘‘They cannot all be Jews!’’, to 9
66	66	which Edmonds replied, ‘‘We are all Jews here’’. 10
67	67	(8) The German officer took out his pistol and 11
68	68	pointed the gun at the head of Edmonds, but Ed-12
69	69	monds refused to identify the Jewish soldiers. In-13
70	70	stead, Edmonds responded, ‘‘According to the Gene-14
71	71	va Convention, we only have to give our name, rank, 15
72	72	and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have 16
73	73	to shoot all of us and, after the war, you will be 17
74	74	tried for war crimes’’. 18
75	75	(9) The German officer turned away from Ed-19
76	76	monds and the other soldiers and left the scene. The 20
77	77	actions taken by Edmonds saved the lives of ap-21
78	78	proximately 200 Jewish-American members of the 22
79	79	Armed Forces. 23
80	80	(10) Lester Tanner, a Jewish-American mem-24
81	81	ber of the Armed Forces also captured during the 25
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85	85	Battle of the Bulge, witnessed the incident and stat-1
86	86	ed that, ‘‘There was no question in my mind, or that 2
87	87	of Master Sergeant Edmonds, that the Germans 3
88	88	were removing the Jewish prisoners from the general 4
89	89	population at great risk to their survival. The U.S. 5
90	90	Army’s standing command to its ranking officers in 6
91	91	POW camps is that you resist the enemy and care 7
92	92	for the safety of your men to the greatest extent 8
93	93	possible. Master Sergeant Edmonds, at the risk of 9
94	94	his immediate death, defied the Germans with the 10
95	95	unexpected consequences that the Jewish prisoners 11
96	96	were saved’’. 12
97	97	(11) Edmonds survived 100 days in captivity 13
98	98	and returned home after the war. Later, Edmonds 14
99	99	served the United States in Korea as a member of 15
100	100	the National Guard. Edmonds died in 1985, but 16
101	101	never told his family or anyone else of his brave ac-17
102	102	tions outside the barracks of Stalag IX–A during 18
103	103	World War II. 19
104	104	(12) Edmonds was posthumously recognized by 20
105	105	Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance 21
106	106	Center in Jerusalem, as ‘‘Righteous Among the Na-22
107	107	tions’’, the first member of the Armed Forces and 23
108	108	1 of only 5 people of the United States to be so rec-24
109	109	ognized. Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem, 25
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113	113	announced the selection of Edmonds by saying, 1
114	114	‘‘Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds seemed like an 2
115	115	ordinary American soldier, but he had an extraor-3
116	116	dinary sense of responsibility and dedication to his 4
117	117	fellow human beings. . . . The choices and actions 5
118	118	of Master Sergeant Edmonds set an example for his 6
119	119	fellow American soldiers as they stood united against 7
120	120	the barbaric evil of the Nazis’’. 8
121	121	(13) 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of 9
122	122	the conclusion of World War II and the atrocities of 10
123	123	the Holocaust as well as the 40th anniversary of the 11
124	124	passing of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds. 12
125	125	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 13
126	126	(a) P
127	127	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 14
128	128	the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-15
129	129	pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 16
130	130	for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 17
131	131	of a gold medal of appropriate design to Roddie Edmonds 18
132	132	in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions dur-19
133	133	ing World War II. 20
134	134	(b) D
135	135	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For purposes of the 21
136	136	presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 22
137	137	the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 23
138	138	shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 24
139	139	and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 25
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143	143	(c) DISPOSITION OFMEDAL.—Following the presen-1
144	144	tation described in subsection (a), the gold medal shall be 2
145	145	given to Pastor Christopher Waring Edmonds, or the next 3
146	146	of kin of Roddie Edmonds. 4
147	147	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 5
148	148	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 6
149	149	bronze of the gold medal struck at a price sufficient to 7
150	150	cover the costs thereof, including labor, materials, dies, 8
151	151	use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 9
152	152	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 10
153	153	(a) N
154	154	ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 11
155	155	Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 12
156	156	31, United States Code. 13
157	157	(b) N
158	158	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 14
159	159	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 15
160	160	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 16
161	161	items. 17
162	162	SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 18
163	163	SALE. 19
164	164	(a) A
165	165	UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 20
166	166	authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 21
167	167	Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-22
168	168	essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 23
169	169	this Act. 24
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173	173	(b) PROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 1
174	174	sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 2
175	175	4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 3
176	176	Enterprise Fund. 4
177	177	Æ
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