American World War II Master Sargent Roddie Edmonds was captured and became a Prisoner of War held by the Nazis along with 200 Jewish soldiers in 1944-1945. As their leader (among 1275 others), Roddie saved all of their lives by refusing to follow Nazi orders to separate Jews from non-Jews which would have meant certain death for his Jewish soldiers. He never spoke to his son about what he did.
After Roddie’s death, his son researched his father’s story resulting in this 14-minute documentary that includes the testimony of many of the men (now very elderly) under Roddie’s command who survived due to his courage and heroism.
Roddie Edmonds has been honored as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Rabbi John Rosove's Blog 
At first, I thought you were writing about your own father, which would have been very meaningful. Still, I am thankful for learning about Roddie Edmonds today. My father was a Master Sgt. thus this resonates in many ways.
And by now, we have lost so many to a different kind of war in just a few months. Memorial Day has new meaning.