Paint It Black

Historical marker location:

Des Moines, Iowa

( Marker can be reached from University Avenue just west of 28th Street, on the right when traveling west.)

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.