In the frigid winter of 1944, Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds and his unit were overwhelmed by Nazi forces in the Battle of the Bulge. He and over 1,200 American soldiers were sent to a prison camp deep inside Germany. Before long, an announcement boomed over the loudspeaker. Jewish POWs were ordered to report separately at morning roll call.
Edmonds was a Christian. The order didn't threaten him personally, but as his son later explained, "To Dad, people were people. Everyone was made equally in the sight of God." Edmonds made his decision immediately.
"We're not gonna do that," he said, ordering every American in the barracks to stand together at roll call the next morning.
That night, every man sat before God with a choice. Would they risk their lives to protect their Jewish brothers in arms? When morning came, every American GI stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder. The Nazi commandant raged at Edmonds.
"All of you can't be Jews," he screamed. Edmonds looked him in the eye and answered with five words history would never forget: "We are all Jews here."
The commandant pressed a pistol against Edmonds' forehead and threatened to shoot him on the spot. Still, Edmonds refused to back down. "If you shoot me," he said, "you will have to shoot us all." The commandant had no choice but to turn and walk away.
Every choice we make matters. Every act of courage echoes in eternity. Roddie Edmonds did not stand alone on that frozen morning in a Nazi prison camp. He stood with his fellow Americans and with the God who made each and every one of us in His image. Together, they faced down evil and won, reminding us that with God, all things are possible.
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