President bestowed the Medal of Honor to three U.S. Army soldiers Monday, in a White House ceremony honoring their “unsurpassed courage.”Â
The touted the “three really incredible American heroes â one living and two no longer with us.”
The president posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Master Sgt. Roderick (Roddie) W. Edmonds; posthumously awarded the medal to Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis and awarded the medal to Command Sergeant Major Terry P. Richardson.
The president, Monday, first introduced the award for Edmonds.
“In 1941, Roddie Edmonds of Knoxville, Tennessee, enlisted in the US Army and soon rose to one of the youngest master sergeants in the military,” the president said. “In 1944, he sailed to Europe vim and vigor, Roddie soon found himself on the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge. That was a big one, massively outnumbered by enemy forces, his 1,200 soldier unit fought valiantly until they were completely overrun. The force was massive on the other side. ⦠After a four day death march, one that was covered very well by the history books, through bitter cold, they were put into a German POW camp.”
The president said Edmonds “was the top ranking infantryman and the camp he was number one, meaning he was responsible for the lives of his fellow service members.”
“On July 26th, 1945, a Nazi SS officer issued an order over the camp loudspeaker, loud and strong, he said that only American Jews were to show up to roll call. Following this morning, he added all who disobey this order will be shot immediately,” the president explained. “There were more than 200 Jewish American soldiers in the camp, and Roddy knew their separation from the group would mean certain death. So that night he summoned his team and devised a plan. The next morning, all 1200 American men fell in line together, shoulder to shoulder. Enraged, the Nazi commandant rushed forward, drew his Luger pistol, and pressed the barrel between Sergeant Edmond’s eyes. He barked at Roddy, they cannot all be Jews! He screamed loud and again and again, and staring straight back into the raging face of evil, Sergeant Edmonds replied fearlessly, we are all Jews here.The Nazi officer lowered his weapon and the soldiers erupted in cheers.”
The president said that “with total disregard for his own life, Roddie had saved over 200 of his fellow service members.”
“Their camp was liberated two months later,” the president said.
The award was accepted by Edmonds’ son, Chris.
Next, the president honored Richardson.
“On September 12th, 1968, 102 brave men of Terry’s Alpha Company were tasked with securing Hill 222 deep behind the enemy’s line in Vietnam,” Trump said.Â
“They didn’t know it at the time, had no idea, but the area was totally infested with nearly 300 enemy bunkers and many, many enemy soldiers, far outnumbering them by at least 4- or 5-, even 6-to-1,” the president said. “As Terry led Lima Platoon up Hill 222, the enemy launched an ambitious and violent attack, unleashing a withering fire of machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. Just didn’t stop. They just kept coming, pinned down and hell on Earth.”
The president said, “Terry summoned unimaginable courage. Three times. He exposed himself to enemy fire to rescue severely wounded comrades, and three times he dragged them back to the group.”
“Terry soon realized that the 82 remaining men had one chance of survival. That was air support. Acting without regard of his own life, he grabbed the radio and charged up hill 222 alone. He needed to be there. It was the only place you’d get reception,” the president explained. “He withstood a storm of enemy bullets, eventually reaching the top where he spent the next eight hours calling in tactical strikes, completely exposedâ¦.An enemy sniper shot rang out and the bullet tore through his right leg violently. He was in bad shape, but Terry disregarded that and pushed through. And after seve
