No Surrender

There are many World War II memoirs listed on Amazon and Goodreads- and a Google search will have you scrambling through 112 million results. There probably aren’t millions of memoirs, but I am thankful that there are many, because each person who served on the Allied side has an amazing story to tell. And these stories must be told soon, while we still have the veterans or their families to tell them. Christopher Edmond’s search for the details of his father’s World War II service is a uniquely positive and uplifting read, even though the details are harsh and horrifying. The book is written in a clear and friendly style and is a pleasure to read.

The author recalls that his Dad Roddie was scrupulously fair and was known as a “square shooter”. But his Dad also had a fun side and would light up a room and warm everyone’s heart with fun and laughter. Roddie was a sincere Christian and ended family prayers by saying, “Lord, help us help others who can’t help themselves.” He loved to sing hymns in church and coach his son’s little league team.

Growing up, the author had no clue about his Dad’s service during World War II. Like many men who returned from the war, Roddie wanted to get on with his life and have a home and family. The author did know that his Dad had served as a Master Sergeant in the US Army, 422nd Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division- the Golden Lions. It wasn’t until his daughter had to do a school project, that he and his family began to look closely through his Dad’s war memorabilia and study his Dad’s diaries from 1944-45.

The author felt a strong pull to search for the men who had served with his father, or their remaining families, to learn more about his Dad’s experiences during the Battle of the Bulge and subsequent capture by the Germans and imprisonment in a POW camp. Fortunately, some of Roddie’s Army buddies were still alive and the author met with them and finally heard the grim details and bravery of his father.

Roddie’s service to the Army and duty to his men of all faiths teach us that one person can always make a difference. And that’s why the author is sharing the story of his father’s message around the world, a message of the transformative power of love, selfless sacrifice and moral courage. Roddie was a secure, grounded and prepared young man, and he was able with God’s help to do the impossible. The story of Roddie’s months overseas and his son’s search to learn about it 75 years later is incredible.

Master Sergeant Roddie Waring Edmonds of Knoxville, Tennessee would be posthumously highly honored for his World War II heroism, in 2015. He saved 1500 of his men, men who were in their early twenties at the time and who would go home to live long lives filled with careers, marriage, children, grand-children and great-grandchildren. I thank all of the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces and I salute the “Greatest Generation.” I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers Harper One for a digital advanced review copy. This is my honest review.

This war story is among the best I’ve read for its sincerity, graphic descriptions, and lessons as remembered by its aged survivors. Chris Edmonds, a Tennessee pastor, prompted by a daughter who wanted to write a school paper about her paternal grandfather, realized he knew very little about his own World War II veteran father. It started a frenzied search through his father’s journals, hunting down living buddies of his father’s from the war, traveling many miles to interview them, and putting it all together into a tribute to his father, Roddie Edmonds.

The author perused brief journal notes in his father’s own handwriting. There were bare facts, terse descriptions, and fragmented sentences, written in personal shorthand and scribbled in haste. He knew his father was captured by the Nazis and sent to brutal POW camps, but it was the stories he was told by living survivors that really brought home the fact that his father was a revered hero, all because of two episodes. In both, he had defied brutal camp supervisors, his bold defiance saving the lives of his fellow prisoners while almost certainly inviting his own death.

Refusing to follow orders in a prison camp run by maniacal Nazi thugs was a sure way to get executed. Two times Roddie, the leader of the prisoner group based on his rank and seniority, stood firmly in front a an infuriated Nazi madman and refused to follow his orders, once with the officer’s Luger pistol aimed at his forehead. His men stood defiantly behind him while secretly fearing what would happen to him. As it turns out, nothing happened, either to him or his men.

The biggest part of the book tells the frightening story of war, the fighting, bombing, shelling, and hand-to-hand combat and overwhelming terror of facing death at every turn. The stench, hunger, and debilitating cold are constant companions. The GIs are finally overrun and thousands of prisoners are force-marched to inhospitable prison camps that are hellholes with no comfort or food, and brutal assaults are constantly rained upon the hapless men. Through it all, Edmonds discovers that his father, Roddie, is an inspiration to all and a spiritual leader that the men are devoted to.

Edmonds tells a heartwarming story amid the horrors of war and imprisonment. He goes on to give updates of their life after they are freed and return home. I found the book to be inspirational and heartwarming. Real heroes are those who are behind the spotlight as they perform their heroic acts. So it was with Roddie Edmonds.

Chris Edmonds discovers, in serendipitous fashion, that his father was a war hero during his time in a Nazi POW camp. He sets out to discover the role his father played in saving the lives of Jewish POWs and it’s last impact years later. Roddie’s story was fascinating, and there were quite a few historical facts mentioned in this book about other areas of the war that were new to me.

The first tow or three chapters were fairly clumsily written and I felt like they were disjointed. But then the story picks up, the writing improves, and I was riveted, especially for the last half. I do wish there had been more follow up for certain characters. I felt like Roddie’s actions were incredibly impressive and this book is so sincere in how it handles the story.

I enjoyed the scope of the book, it’s point of view, and the story. Thank you Netgalley for a free digital advanced copy!

Thanks for the ARC NET GALLEY, you are the best digital reading service!!!!!!!

Roddie Edmonds was a Staff Sargent assigned to the 422nd Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division and a member of the forgotten hero club of WW2.

If you want to know the difference between then and now this book will do it.

If you want to know WHY the difference you will be left wondering.

FANTASTIC!!