Edouard Victor Michel Izac

Citation

When the U.S.S. President Lincoln was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-90, 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.

Biography

Edouard Victor Michel Izac, was a Representative from California. He was born in Cresco, Howard County, Iowa on December 18, 1891. He attended the School of the Assumption, Cresco, Iowa. He then attended the high school at South St. Paul, Minn., and Werntz Preparatory School, Annapolis, Md.. He was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1915. He 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. He was awarded Congressional Medal of Honor, the Croce di Guerra of Italy, and the Cross of Montenegro.

He relocated in San Diego, Calif., and engaged in newspaper work and writing from 1922-1928. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress but was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1940 and 1944. He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1947). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946 to the Eightieth Congress. He raised thoroughbred cattle on a farm in Gordonsville, Va., before residing in Bethesda, Md.. He was a resident of Fairfax, Va., from 1988 until his death there on January 18, 1990; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.