Edouard Izac | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia | |
| In office January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1947 | |
| Preceded by | George Burnham |
| Succeeded by | Charles K. Fletcher |
| Constituency | 20th district (1937–1943) 23rd district (1943–1947) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edouard Victor Michel Izac (1891-12-18)December 18, 1891 |
| Died | January 18, 1990(1990-01-18) (aged 98) |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Other political affiliations | Progressive (1934) |
| Awards | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1915–1921 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant commander |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Edouard Victor Michel Izac (December 18, 1891 – January 18, 1990) was a lieutenant in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War I and aMedal of Honor recipient. From 1937 to 1947, he served five terms as aU.S. House Representative fromCalifornia.
He was posted to thetroop transportUSS President Lincoln in 1918 when that ship was sunk byGerman submarineU-90. Taken as aprisoner of war, and not letting his captors know that he spoke German, Izac gathered intelligence on the submarine and its crew before being transferred to prison camps inGermany, from where he escaped in October 1918.
At the time of his death in 1990, he was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from World War I.
Edouard Victor Michel Izac was born on December 18, 1891[1] inCresco,Howard County,Iowa, the youngest of nine children to Balthazar Izac, a builder of farm wagons, and Mathilda Geuth. His father emigrated to the United States fromAlsace-Lorraine in 1852 amid instability from thecoup d'état instigated byNapoleon III, while his mother was born inPhiladelphia to a family that immigrated fromBaden-Württemberg. Balthazar Izac's name was changed to Isaacs by immigration officials as he entered the country, and all of his children except for Edouard adopted this spelling of the name as well.[2] The family spoke anAlsatian dialect of German at home,[1] and Izac learned to speak French early in his life.[3]
Izac attended the School of the Assumption in Cresco, before moving to attend high school inSouth St. Paul, Minnesota.[4] He decided to enter theUnited States Naval Academy to get a "complete education," seeingprivate colleges as out of reach. After securing a recommendation from a Congressman inChicago, he was appointed to the academy. Izac did not excel in academics at the Academy, however he did meet Agnes Cabell, daughter of GeneralDeRosey Caroll Cabell, at a dance. Izac graduated the Academy in 1915, and he and Cabell were married the next day.[5]
Following his graduation, Izac was assigned to thebattleshipUSS Florida, as the United States began its involvement inWorld War I.[6] When he was promoted fromensign tolieutenant (junior grade), he signed up for theNaval Transport Service, hoping for assignments less open-ended than battleship duty. During this time, his daughter Cabell was born in 1916. He transferred to thetroop transportUSS President Lincoln in July 1917, and helped to oversee the conversion of that ship from an ocean liner to a ship of war, duties which kept the ship in drydock until its maiden voyage on 18 October. The ship subsequently undertook four uneventful trips to Europe, including one in November 1917 escortingU.S. RepresentativeClarence B. Miller.[7]
By the ship's fifth voyage, Izac was itsexecutive officer. During this voyage, the ship successfully ferried troops toBrest, France, on May 23, 1918, and began the return trip, in convoy, toNew York City on May 29. The next day, the destroyer escort for the convoy departed, leaving four troopships to cross the sea alone.[8] Izac was in command of the guns on the afterdeck. A submarine was spotted early in the morning on May 31 and the ships attempted to evade it unsuccessfully.[9]President Lincoln was 600 miles (970 km) from the coast of France when it was struck by three torpedoes at a range of about 1,000 yards (910 m) at 08:54 byGerman submarineU-90. By 09:15, her captain, CommanderPercy Wright Foote ordered the ship abandoned.President Lincoln rolled starboard at 09:30 and sank, but only took 26 men in a crew of 700 with her. The rest remained in lifeboats as the rest of the convoy headed to a safe distance, as was policy at the time.[10]U-90 then surfaced, attempting to locate the ship's captain, but was unable to do so, pulling Izac out of a lifeboat instead because its crew recognized his officers' insignia. Izac was taken as aprisoner of war after lying to the sub's crew that the captain had gone down with the ship. He was subsequently held in quarters aboard the ship while it dived 200 feet (61 m) to avoiddepth charges from the pursuingUSS Smith.[11][8][12]
Izac later recalled that he was treated well while a prisoner, dining with the ship's officers and playingbridge and other card games with the crew.[13] During political discussions on the boat, he also learned about the German mindset and conditions for German U-Boat crews, which were generally superior to conditions in other ships at the time. During this time, he began to take mental notes of the submarine and the routines and operations of her crew, hoping to gather intelligence that could be useful against German submarine efforts.[14][15] He concealed his knowledge of German language which he used to listen in on the crew.[8] Using maps and binoculars borrowed from the crew, Izac was able to ascertain the ship's return route toKiel, which took it north of theShetland Islands, into theNorth Sea and pastSkagerrack andKattegat in a bid to avoid minefields and patrols. He also learned of a rendezvous point used by U-boats nearDenmark to avoid patrols, though was thwarted in his first escape attempt there.[16] He also learned of at least one island where sub crews were commonly landing to poach mutton, which he considered ideal for a trap.[17] Arriving in Kiel on June 10, he was transferred toSMS Preussen, on which he was ferried to a prison camp inKarlsruhe.[18] Conditions there were more difficult and the prisoners were fed less, so he tried unsuccessfully to escape again.[16]
Four weeks later, as Izac was moved toVillingen by train, he attempted to escape again by jumping headfirst out of a window as the train was traveling 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) but struck his head and knees on the railroad ties and was caught and beaten by guards for the attempt, then forced to run the remaining 5 miles (8.0 km) to the prison camp. Bedridden by his injuries for three weeks, he was then sentenced to two weeks ofsolitary confinement. Izac would be unable to bend his knees for two months. During his initial recapture, a guard broke his rifle striking Izac and was court martialed for destruction of military property; after the war Izac sought damages from a claims commission and was awarded $27,000 for the incident.[3][19] By the time he left solitary confinement, Izac had lost 30 pounds (14 kg) and weighed 120 pounds (54 kg).[20] Conditions in this camp were more harsh and Izac prepared to escape here by walking, running, and weightlifting as he continued his recovery. But conditions at the camp continued to deteriorate, especially for the Russian prisoners of war.[21][22]
On the night of October 6, Izac and a group of American prisoners succeeded in a mass escape from the prison by cutting power and leaving the premises dressed as German guards. To avoid dogs and other pursuers, he and another American officer,Harold Buckley Willis,[23] hiked a roundabout route toSwitzerland. They traveled through theBlack Forest and along theAlb, followed a rail line and crossed theRhine River, crossing the border early in the morning of 13 October.[24] Their path had taken them through 120 miles (190 km) even though a direct route from the camp to the closest Swiss border was 18 miles (29 km) away.[25][26] They survived on raw vegetables along the way. From the crossing he was taken to the American Embassy inBern,[19] where he was given money by theAmerican Red Cross to travel toParis,[26] which he reached on 22 October.[27] From there, he was taken toLondon, where he met withAdmiralWilliam Sims on 23 October, and finally returned to the Bureau of Navigation, arriving on November 11, 1918,Armistice Day.[28][29]
Welcomed to theDepartment of the Navy as a hero, Izac was promoted tolieutenant commander within a few months and assigned to a prestigious post as the director of munitions at theNavy Yard inWashington, D.C., moving there with his family. He was subsequently awarded theMedal of Honor byAssistant Secretary of the NavyFranklin D. Roosevelt on November 11, 1920, with whom he became friends.[30] In addition, he was awarded the ItalianCroce di Guerra and the Cross ofMontenegro.[31] However, the injuries he sustained to his knees in his escape attempts ended his Navy career and Izac was forced to retire.[19][32]
Living only on a small pension, Izac moved his family to a home of his father-in-law inSan Diego, where he took a job selling ads for theSan Diego Union from 1922 to 1929, during which time he also began working as afreelance writer, focused mainly on subjects on problems of war veterans, history, and English. The newspaper job was lost following theWall Street Crash of 1929, and he briefly moved the family to rural France, living simply, likely off of the money awarded from the German government.[31]
Izac returned to San Diego in 1931. Three years later, a group of veterans in the city convinced him to run for Congress inCalifornia's 20th congressional district. He secured nominations from both theDemocratic andProgressive parties, but ultimately lostthe election toRepublicanGeorge Burnham.[33]
Campaigning again in1936, Izac changed his strategy and used his war record and Medal of Honor award as selling points in his political campaign. He retold the story of his capture in various rallies, becoming noted for his animation while speaking. A supporter of Roosevelt'sNew Deal policies, Izac promoted a policy ofneutrality, support for veterans, and advocated for a larger military presence in San Diego as an economic anchor.[33] During the campaign, he raised $40 each from a group of 40 veterans under the condition of repaying them should he lose. Crafting a political image that tied him as a friend to Roosevelt, a patriot and with first-hand experience in poverty, he won the election in 1936.[34]
Sworn in to theSeventy-fifth Congress, Izac advocated fornon-interventionalism inWorld War II. In his first speech on the House floor, Izac said the path the nation was on would lead to its involvement in the conflict, which elicited substantial coverage fromThe New York Times. Among other acts, he introduced legislation calling for the protection of thePalomar Observatory, establishment of aU.S. Marine Corps hospital in San Diego, aid for construction of public schools, and to add a battalion ofAfrican American soldiers in the then-segregatedCalifornia Army National Guard.[34] Veterans were a substantial focus of his legislative efforts. He introduced legislation including disabled veterans and their families in New Deal and other appropriations.[35] He was a delegate to theDemocratic National Conventions in1940 and1944.[36]
Serving on theHouse Naval Affairs Committee, Izac was considered a potential candidate for greater positions of power. His name came up in 1940 as possible candidate to become the Assistant Secretary for the Navy, but Izac publicly announced at the time that he wanted to remain in Congress, in a role that was focused on support of veterans.[35] He eventually became chair of the House Naval Affairs Committee, and in this role he had an oversight role in military efforts to defense matters on the Pacific coast and was also involved in questioning Lieutenant GeneralJohn L. DeWitt over theinternment of Japanese Americans.[37] This duty sent him on inspection tours of U.S. bases in thePacific during the war.[38] He also pushed against efforts for a post-war downsizing of U.S. military bases in the Pacific.[39]
It was around this time that Izac's popularity began to wane for his growing Leftward-leaning liberal positions in Congress. His voting record came under scrutiny by theSan Diego Union, in part for his opposition to permanent status for theHouse Un-American Activities Committee and for his protests against the deportation of prominent West Coast union leaderHarry Bridges.[35] Izac subsequently won re-election by smaller margins. He had won his1938 re-election campaign by 20,000 votes in a vote of 58,806 to 38,333, but was re-elected by just 4,373 votes in1940, and re-elected by only 777 votes in1942 in a close election that came down to the count of absentee ballots. Izac despisedAdolf Hitler but nonetheless never advocated for entering the war against him, and hisisolationist views were increasingly unpopular in favor of national unity to support the war effort, especially after theattack on Pearl Harbor.[40] In 1942 followingredistricting, Izac shifted to the23rd congressional district, and RepublicanCarl Hinshaw replaced him in the 20th congressional district.[41]
In 1945, GeneralDwight Eisenhower suggested toArmy Chief of StaffGeorge C. Marshall that legislative representatives be brought to Europe to learn about theconcentration camps being found there firsthand. Izac was one of a group of 12 Congressmen andSenators sent to theEuropean Theater of Operations, where they touredBuchenwald,Nordhausen, andDachau concentration camps, learning of the conditions directly from a number of the survivors, an experience that deeply impacted Izac and led to his belief that "terroristic and fanatical" members of theNazi Party should be "eliminated" rather than reintegrated as part ofdenazification.[42] He was also a believer in more harsh punishment for the German people in the name of justice, though he knew such sanctions were unlikely.[42] The group penned a report,Atrocities and other Conditions in Concentration Camps in Germany.[19]
In 1946, he was present atOperation Crossroads, observing nuclear weapons tests on a fleet of 90 Navy vessels atBikini Atoll. Izac observed the tests aboard theUSS Panamint, 22 miles (35 km) from the epicenter of the blasts, but said little of his reaction to the weapons.[42]
Izac's1946 re-election campaign pitted him against RepublicanCharles K. Fletcher, a banker who focused on local issues, differentiating him from Izac, who felt they should be addressed by local bodies, rather than federal government.[43] Fletcher defeated Izac gaining 69,411 votes to Izac's 53,898 and was elected to theEightieth Congress.[44]
Later in life, Izac chose to downplay the accomplishments of the Medal of Honor again.[19] After leaving office, he moved his family to land inherited from his father-in-law inGordonsville, Virginia, where Izac became a farmer and led a simple life raising cattle and growing different kinds of fruit and vegetables. The family then grew most of its own food and survived on pensions from the Navy and Congress. At one point, he dammed a stream to make a small lake, which has since been known as Lake Izac.[43] In retirement the family also took to traveling, visitingJerusalem almost every year and using these visits as the basis for a 1965 book,The Holy Land: Then and Now. Of the book, he later said, "No one who has not visited the most momentous events in the history of the human race will ever be able to visualize just how it all happened. You simply have to go there."[45]
In 1952, one of Izac's sons, 19-year-old Forrest, died in what the coroner ruled a suicide. His youngest son, Andre, eventually joined the Navy as a chaplain and served aboard theUSS Abraham Lincoln.[43] He later lived inBethesda,Maryland,[36] in the 1960s.[46] An accident following the death of his wife in 1970 led him to live with his second daughter, Anna for the remainder of his life, inFairfax, Virginia.[36] By 1989 he was the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient and his 99th birthday was noted byWillard Scott onToday.[43]
Izac died in his sleep of congestive heart failure on January 18, 1990.[1][45][46] At the time of his death, he was the last livingMedal of Honor recipient fromWorld War I. He was buried atArlington National Cemetery, inArlington, Virginia.[47] Edouard Izac was survived by five children, nineteen grandchildren and twenty-five great-grandchildren.[19][46]
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy. Place and date: Aboard German submarine U-90 as prisoner of war, May 21, 1918. Entered service at: Illinois. Born: December 18, 1891, Cresco, Howard County, Iowa.[48]
Citation:
When the U.S.S. President Lincoln was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-90, on May 21, 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 was 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 theRiver Rhine during the night in the immediate vicinity of German sentries.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edouard Izac | 59,208 | 56.4 | |||
| Republican | Ed P. Simple | 44,925 | 42.8 | |||
| Communist | Esco L. Richardson | 916 | 0.8 | |||
| Total votes | 105,049 | 100.0 | ||||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edouard Izac (Incumbent) | 65,243 | 60.4 | |
| Republican | John L. Bacon | 42,710 | 39.6 | |
| Total votes | 107,953 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edouard Izac (Incumbent) | 69,874 | 51.1 | |
| Republican | John L. Bacon | 66,132 | 48.3 | |
| Communist | Esco L. Richardson | 806 | 0.6 | |
| Total votes | 136,812 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edouard Izac (Incumbent) | 42,864 | 50.5% | |
| Republican | James B. Abbey | 42,087 | 49.5% | |
| Total votes | 84,951 | 100.0% | ||
| Turnout | ||||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edouard Izac (Incumbent) | 86,707 | 55.1% | |
| Republican | James B. Abbey | 70,787 | 44.9% | |
| Total votes | 157,494 | 100.0% | ||
| Turnout | ||||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Charles K. Fletcher | 69,411 | 56.3% | |||
| Democratic | Edouard Izac (Incumbent) | 53,898 | 43.7% | |||
| Total votes | 123,309 | 100.0% | ||||
| Turnout | ||||||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | ||||||
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 20th congressional district 1937–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by New district | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 23rd congressional district 1943–1947 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
