President Donald Trump paused on Monday morning to honor three Army soldiers whose stories of courage span eight decades of American military history – presenting them with the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor.
Two of the three honors were given posthumously for their heroic actions.
The ceremony, held at the White House, recognized Master Sergeant Roderick “Roddie” Edmonds of Knoxville, Tennessee, for his actions as a World War II prisoner of war; Command Sergeant Major Terry P. Richardson for his heroism in the jungles of Vietnam in 1968; and Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis of Staten Island, New York, who gave his life in Afghanistan in 2013 to save the life of a Polish soldier he had only just met.
Before the men were honored, Trump briefly addressed the country on Operation Epic Fury – the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign launched this past weekend targeting Iran’s missile capabilities, naval assets, and nuclear infrastructure. The operation follows last summer’s Operation Midnight Hammer and is a huge collection of combat missions aimed at permanently eliminating Iran’s nuclear threat and terrorist networks.
Trump told those gathered that four American service members have been killed in the operation so far, yet that the Epic Fury continues “with ferocious, unyielding resolve.”
Following the President’s brief mention of Operation Epic Fury, he turned his attention to the heroes of the hour.
Roderick “Roddie” Edmonds was captured during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and imprisoned in Ziegenhain, Germany. Edmonds was the senior non-commissioned officer among more than 1,200 American prisoners. When a Nazi SS officer ordered only Jewish American soldiers to report for roll call – a directive everyone in the camp understood meant certain death – Edmonds gathered every man and had all 1,200 Americans show up together the next morning.
The Nazi commandant pressed his Luger pistol between Edmonds’ eyes and demanded that only the Jews step forward or Edmonds would be shot. Edmonds looked back at him and said, simply: “We are all Jews here.”
The commandant lowered his weapon, and more than 200 Jewish American soldiers reportedly survived because of that moment. Edmonds died in 1985 at age 65, never having told his family what he had done. His son, Chris Edmonds, accepted the medal on his behalf.
Terry Richardson’s award citation described nine hours of hell on Hill 222 in Vietnam on September 12, 1968. Richardson’s company of 102 men walked into an area infested with nearly 300 enemy bunkers.
Vastly outnumbered and surrounded, Richardson dragged wounded comrades to safety three separate times, then charged alone to the top of the hill – the only spot where he could get radio reception – and spent eight hours calling in air strikes. An enemy sniper’s bullet tore through his right leg about an hour in. He kept going. Both his eardrums ruptured. His leg was mangled. He kept going. By the time his men found him, 82 soldiers were alive because of him. Two of those men were in the room on Monday and stood to be recognized.
Richardson, now retired, stood tall when Trump called his name.
Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis was 24 years old when he was killed on August 28, 2013. He was a Staten Island native who enlisted after watching the World Trade Center towers fall across the bay. Ollis was serving at a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan when Taliban fighters detonated a massive car bomb and breached the base. Ollis rushed toward the fight with minimal gear — no helmet, no body armor, one magazine in his rifle. He linked up with Polish Second Lieutenant Karol Cierpica. When shrapnel tore through Cierpica’s legs, and a suicide bomber came around a corner directly at the wounded officer, Ollis stepped between them.
Cierpica – now a decorated officer with a wife, sons, and a life he would not have had without Ollis – was also in the room on Monday. He walked to the podium and, in a moving speech, spoke directly to the Ollis family.
“A soldier is not something you are from time to time,” Cierpica said. “It is who you are, forever.” He told Michael’s parents that he would see their son again in their “heavenly homeland.” He added that his younger son’s name is Michael, in honor of the American who saved his father’s life.
Trump closed by acknowledging the Ollis family directly before prayer, saying, “Your son’s selflessness in the face of real evil reminds us of the courage that keeps our country free.”