The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to
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.
|
