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President Donald Trump bestowed the Medal of Honor to three U.S. Army soldiers Monday in a White House ceremony honoring their “unsurpassed courage.”
The president touted the “three really incredible American heroes — 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 Roddie 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 1,200 American men fell in line together, shoulder to shoulder.
“Enraged, the Nazi commandant rushed forward, drew his Luger pistol, and pressed the barrel between Sgt. Edmond’s eyes. He barked at Roddie, ‘They cannot all be Jews!’ He screamed loud and again and again. And, staring straight back into the raging face of evil, Sgt. 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 Sept. 12, 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.
“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 exposed. … 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 seven more hours of calling in American fire from above, the enemy retreated.”
“Later that day, his team found him with both eardrums totally ruptured and a mangled right leg and foot, but still barely living but living nevertheless,” the president said. “Due to Terry’s actions above and beyond the call of duty, 82 men, Alpha Company survived this battle, including two in this room.”
The president invited Norm Meyer and Dave Hemmer to stand up.
IN MEMORY OF WORLD WAR II VETERAN LESTER TANNER: ‘WE ARE ALL JEWISH’
The president congratulated Richardson, and told him that “today you entered the ranks of the bravest warriors ever to strike the face of the earth.”
Finally, the president posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, while serving in Afghanistan.
“On Aug. 28, 2013, terrorists detonated a 400-pound car bomb on the east wall of the Forward operating base Kinzie, ripping open a 60 foot-wide breach into a compound that housed NATO coalition forces,” the president explained. “A lot of them, ten Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests swarm through from across the compound.”
“Michael saw the pillar of white smoke rising and ran to join the fight, rushing without his gear, wearing almost no gear, no Kevlar helmet, no body armor. Just one magazine in his rifle,” the president continued. “Along the way, he encountered a Polish soldier, and together they advanced under heavy fire. Very, very heavy fire. At one point, shrapnel ripped through the Polish soldier’s legs, rendering him unable to walk very, very severely hurt. In that chaos of gunfire, explosions and charred human remains, a terrorist insurgent appeared rounding a corner with his suicide vest, fully armed. And you could see it. It was going to happen.”
The president said the terrorist “charged the wounded Polish soldier without hesitation.”
“Michael raised his gun and forced himself between the insurgent and the man he just met, shielding him with his own body. He knew what was going to happen,” the president said. “He shielded him with his own body.”
“You know, bravery is amazing. You never really know who’s brave, who’s not until they’re really tested,” the president said. “We think some people are brave, and they’re not. We think others aren’t. And they are. You never know.”
But Trump said Ollis “was tested.”
“That’s called the ultimate test, right? And it perhaps his final heartbeat,” the president said. “Michael fired his weapon, and the terrorist detonated his vest. Simultaneously, staff Sergeant Ollis was killed just weeks before his 25th birthday. And nobody was any more brave than that.”
The president added: “And his final act on earth, Michael, absorbed the blast, sparing the life of that Polish warrior who we are grateful to have in the room with us today.”
The president invited Polish 2nd Lt. Carol Sarah Piqua to come to the podium.
The Medal of Honor is awarded to members of the Armed Forces who, according to the White House, “distinguish themselves conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of their own lives above and beyond the call of duty.”
The White House said the honorees are individuals who “engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.”
The White House said the conduct “must involve great personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life.”
“There must be incontestable proof of the performance of the meritorious conduct, and each recommendation for the award must be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit,” the White House said.
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