Roderick “Roddie” Waring Edmonds was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on August 20, 1919. After his mother’s death shortly before his third birthday, he and his three brothers were raised by their father. Edmonds attended Flenniken Elementary School and Boyd Junior High before graduating from Knoxville High School in 1938. He worked as a stock clerk until enlisting in the U.S. Army on March 17, 1941, at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, during World War II.

In December 1944, Edmonds arrived in Belgium with the 106th Infantry Division, just days before the German offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. Captured on December 19, he and fellow soldiers were forced to march to POW camps Stalag IX-B and later Stalag IX-A. As the senior non-commissioned officer, Edmonds was responsible for nearly 1,300 prisoners.

When ordered to identify Jewish soldiers, Edmonds instead had all prisoners assemble, declaring, “We are all Jews here.” When threatened at gunpoint, he warned the commandant that killing them would constitute a war crime. The commandant backed down, and Edmonds is credited with saving about 300 Jewish-American soldiers.

After 100 days in captivity, Edmonds returned home in April 1945 and left the Army that October. He later reenlisted in 1950, serving during the Korean War. Edmonds died on August 8, 1985. Decades later, he was honored for his courage, including recognition by Yad Vashem in 2015 as "Righteous Among the Nations," a historical marker on Market Street in Knoxville, and the Medal of Honor in 2026.