Red Oak Public Library

Historical marker location:

400 North 2nd Street, Red Oak, Iowa

( Marker is at the intersection of 2nd Street and Washington Avenue, on the right when traveling north on 2nd Street.)

1909. Iowa Historic Site.

In 1917, a German submarine sank the SS Housatonic, a U.S. freighter carrying food and supplies to Europe during World War I, off the coast of South Carolina. Among the crew members who went down with the ship was an Iowa native named Herbert C. Jones, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the sinking.