Medal of Honor: Edouard Victor Michel Izac - World War I - May 21, 1918

Name: Edouard Victor Michel Izac
Rank: Lieutenant
Branch: U.S. Navy
War: World War I
Unit: U.S. Navy
Date of Action: May 21, 1918
Location: Aboard German submarine U-90 and occupied Germany

Summary of Action

On 21 May 1918, Lieutenant Edouard Victor Michel Izac displayed extraordinary heroism after the troop transport USS President Lincoln was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-90 during World War I.

Izac survived the sinking but was captured by the Germans and taken aboard the submarine as a prisoner of war.

While confined aboard U-90 during its return voyage to Germany, he carefully observed and gathered highly valuable intelligence regarding German submarine operations and movement patterns.

Recognizing the importance of the information, Izac became determined to escape and deliver the intelligence to Allied authorities regardless of the risk to his own life.

During transport by train through Germany, he made his first daring escape attempt by hurling himself through the window of a moving train.

The act alone carried a high likelihood of death, and German guards immediately opened fire on him during the attempt.

He was eventually recaptured and imprisoned again.

Refusing to give up, Izac later launched a second escape attempt.

Breaking through barbed-wire prison fencing under gunfire, he deliberately drew the attention of the armed guards to create confusion and possibly allow other prisoners an opportunity to flee.

This time he escaped successfully.

Traveling alone through the rugged mountains of southwestern Germany, he survived largely on raw vegetables and whatever food he could secretly obtain along the way.

Pursued by enemy forces and operating deep inside hostile territory, Izac continued moving toward freedom until he finally reached the Rhine River.

Under cover of darkness and within sight of German sentries, he swam the river to safety and eventually returned with the critical submarine intelligence he had risked everything to obtain.

His courage, determination, and refusal to accept captivity made him one of the few American prisoners of World War I to receive the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor Citation

IZAC, EDOUARD VICTOR MICHEL

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.