Rod Gragg

A comprehensive account of the greatest battle of the Civil War that turned the tide against the South as the high water mark. Detailed descriptions of the many encounters and strategies that took place during this three day battle are presented.

Descriptions of each event are interspersed with written accounts from personnel on each side of the conflict. These words offer real and graphic enhancement to the terror and stresses that were a constant in the struggle. An important contribution to the prolific material available on this momentous battle.… (more)

This book is a collection of brief profiles of Christians who risked their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust. Some of the subjects of the sketches are well known for their work during the Holocaust, such as the Ten Boom family. Some rescued hundreds or thousands, and others rescued one or two. Some are surprising, like Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip. All were motivated to act by their Christian faith, and all have been designated as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

I was glad to see one local man recognized. Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds was a local boy from Knoxville, Tennessee. As the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in a German POW camp, he used his position to protect the Jewish soldiers who were fellow POWs. When the Germans ordered the Jewish soldiers to report one morning, Edmonds feared that they would end up in an extermination camp. He ordered all of the American soldiers to report, and they followed his order. When questioned by the Germans, they claimed “We are all Jews.” The Germans backed down in the face of this, and the Jewish soldiers were spared. Roddie Edmonds was the first—and at this point the only—American soldier recognized by Yad Vashem.… (more)