No Surrender by Chris Edmonds

Often, when I think of World War II, I think of the brutal Japanese POW camps or the horrific German concentration camps. This book reveals that the German POW camps were just as bad with their cruel treatment of prisoners and disregard for even fundamental human rights. The men were fed starvation rations, treated sadistically, denied their Red Cross packages and dehumanized in many ways.

Roddie Edmonds lived out an enthusiastic Christian faith with quiet confidence in God until he died in 1985. He rarely spoke of his wartime experiences. This book follows his son’s journey to discover his father’s actions in World War II. This journey would lead to Roddie Edmonds being posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour and the rare honour of being recognized by the State of Israel as Righteous Among The Nations for his bravery in protecting American Jewish soldiers from the Nazis..

Yet Roddie Edmonds would not have considered his actions, which saved many lives in a German POW camp, to be heroic - they were simply the right thing to do. On occasion, he stood up and ordered his men to stand up to the POW camp commander at the risk of his life. He would not allow the Jewish American soldiers to be identified so that they could be segregated and probably killed. All the soldiers who knew him respected him and his leadership.

“True heroes, I’ve learned, are rarely the larger-than-life characters of comic books or Hollywood blockbusters. They walk among us - like my dad did - virtually unnoticed, every day. They make the world a better place, quietly, anonymously - one person, one action at a time.” Chris Edmonds

This is an inspirational book that is well worth reading. The author has done a great job of tracking down witnesses and information and presenting it in a highly readable way.

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