* IZAC Edouard Victor Michel Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy. Place and date: Aboard German submarine U-90 as prisoner of war, 21 May 1918. Entered service at: Illinois. Born: 18 December 1891, Cresco, Howard County, lowa. Citation: When the U.S.S. President Lincoln was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-90, on 21 May 1918, Lt. Izac was captured and held as a prisoner on board the U-90 until the return of the submarine to Germany, when he was confined in the prison camp. During his stay on the U-90 he obtained information of the movements of German submarines which was so important that he determined to escape, with a view to making this information available to the U.S. and Allied Naval authorities. In attempting to carry out this plan, he jumped through the window of a rapidly moving train at the imminent risk of death, not only from the nature of the act itself but from the fire of the armed German soldiers who were guarding him. Having been recaptured and reconfined, Lt. Izac made a second and successful attempt to escape, breaking his way through barbed-wire fences and deliberately drawing the fire of the armed guards in the hope of permitting others to escape during the confusion. He made his way through the mountains of southwestern Germany, having only raw vegetables for food, and at the end, swam the River Rhine during the night in the immediate vicinity of German sentries. Izac, Edouard Victor Michel (1891-1990) — also known as Edouard V. M. Izac — of San Diego, San Diego County, Calif. Born in Cresco, Howard County, Iowa, December 18, 1891. Democrat. Served in the U.S. Navy during World War I; U.S. Representative from California, 1937-47 (20th District 1937-43, 23rd District 1943-47); defeated, 1934, 1946; delegate to Democratic National Convention from California, 1940, 1944. Received the Medal of Honor for actions as a German prisoner of war in 1918. Died in Fairfax, Va., January 18, 1990. Interment at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/evmizac.htm IZAC, Edouard Victor Michel, a Representative from California; born in Cresco, Howard County, Iowa, December 18, 1891; attended the School of the Assumption, Cresco, Iowa, the high school at South St. Paul, Minn., and Werntz Preparatory School, Annapolis, Md.; was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in 1915; served in the United States Navy as ensign, lieutenant (jg), and senior lieutenant until forced to retire in 1921 on account of wounds received while a prisoner of war in Germany; awarded Congressional Medal of Honor, the Croce di Guerra of Italy, and the Cross of Montenegro; located in San Diego, Calif., and engaged in newspaper work and writing 1922-1928; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1940 and 1944; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1947); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946 to the Eightieth Congress; interested in lumbering; raised thoroughbred cattle on a farm in Gordonsville, Va., before residing in Bethesda, Md.; was a resident of Fairfax, Va., from 1988 until his death there on January 18, 1990; interment in Arlington National Cemetery. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=I000052 * Changed his family name from Isaacs to Izac in 1925
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=18412 The History of the USS President Lincoln During WWI http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacunithistories/USS_President_Lincoln.html
