Edouard Victor Michel Izac (December 18, 1891 – January 18, 1990) was a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.

Born in Cresco, Iowa, Izac grew up in a rural setting, graduating from United States Naval Academy in 1915.

Despite initially being hesitant to enter the war and remaining cautious to expanded U.S. involvement, experiences touring Nazi concentration camps in 1945 ultimately hardened his resolve.

Izac spent much of the rest of his life writing and farming in the Washington, D.C., area and was the last living Medal of Honor recipient of World War I when he died in 1990 at 98.

His father emigrated to the United States from Alsace-Lorraine in 1852 amid instability from the coup d'état instigated by Napoleon III, while his mother was born in Philadelphia to a family that immigrated from Baden-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.

[3] The family spoke an Alsatian dialect of German at home,[2] and Izac learned to speak French early in his life.

[6] Following his graduation, Izac was assigned to the battleship USS Florida, as the United States began its involvement in World War I.

[7] When he was promoted from ensign to lieutenant (junior grade), he signed up for the Naval Transport Service, hoping for assignments less open-ended than battleship duty.

During this voyage, the ship successfully ferried troops to Brest, France, on May 23, 1918, and began the return trip, in convoy, to New York City on May 29.

[11] 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.

He was subsequently held in quarters aboard the ship while it dived 200 feet (61 m) to avoid depth charges from the pursuing USS Smith.

[17] Four weeks later, as Izac was moved to Villingen 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.

[28] From there, he was taken to London, where he met with Admiral William Sims on 23 October, and finally returned to the Bureau of Navigation, arriving on November 11, 1918, Armistice Day.

The newspaper job was lost following the Wall 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.

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 from The New York Times.

Among other acts, he introduced legislation calling for the protection of the Palomar Observatory, establishment of a U.S. Marine Corps hospital in San Diego, aid for construction of public schools and to add a battalion of African American soldiers in the then-segregated California Army National Guard.

[37] Serving on the House 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.

[42] In 1945, General Dwight Eisenhower suggested to Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall that legislative representatives be brought to Europe to learn about the concentration camps being found there firsthand.

Izac was one of a group of 12 Congressmen and Senators sent to the European Theater of Operations, where they toured Buchenwald, Nordhausen and Dachau 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 the Nazi Party should be "eliminated" rather than reintegrated as part of denazification.

[20] After leaving office, he moved his family to land inherited from his father-in-law in Gordonsville, Virginia, where Izac became a farmer and led a simple life raising cattle and growing different kinds of fruit and vegetables.

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.

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.