Wow....I too was unaware of this.... On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 1:11 PM, Kamakazee <[email protected]> wrote:
> Then, in the fourth dreadful year of the war, as the American > Expeditionary Forces (AEF) assumed fighting strength and prepared their > first great offensive against the Germans, the flu struck. By the War > Department's most conservative count, influenza sickened 26% of the > Army—more than one million men—and killed almost 30,000 before they even > got to France.*2* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B2>,*3* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B3> On both sides > of the Atlantic, the Army lost a staggering 8,743,102 days to influenza > among enlisted men in 1918.*4* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B4> (p. 1448) The > Navy recorded 5,027 deaths and more than 106,000 hospital admissions for > influenza and pneumonia out of 600,000 men, but given the large number of > mild cases that were never recorded, Braisted put the sickness rate closer > to 40%.*5* <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B5>,*6* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B6> (p. 2458) > > The Army and Navy medical services may have tamed typhoid and typhus, but > more American soldiers, sailors, and Marines would succumb to influenza and > pneumonia than would die on the industrialized battlefields of the Great > War. The story of the influenza epidemic in the military is often lost in > the historical narrative of the Great War, included merely as a coda to > that four-year horror, coinciding with the final battles and the Armistice. > But an examination of medical reports and War Department and Department of > the Navy documents from the war reveals that the war and the epidemic were > intertwined.*7* <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B7> > World War I and influenza collaborated: the war fostered disease by > creating conditions in the trenches of France that some epidemiologists > believe enabled the influenza virus to evolve into a killer of global > proportions. In turn, disease shaped the war effort by rendering much of > the Army and Navy non-effective and diverting resources, personnel, and > scarce human attention and energy from the military campaign. The > exigencies of war also thwarted many of the efforts such as crowd > mitigation and quarantines to control the epidemic. The influenza epidemic > in the U.S. military therefore provides a cautionary tale about the power > of war to change the health environment and the power of disease to > influence the conduct of war. > > GOING TO WAR > > The United States at first hung back from the killing in Europe, as many > Americans believed it was not their fight. But under increasing pressure > from Britain and France, and angered by German U-boat attacks that > threatened American commerce and security, and the revelations in the > Zimmermann Telegram that Germany was urging Mexico to attack the United > States, President Wilson abandoned neutrality and in April 1917 asked > Congress for a declaration of war. > > > The U.S. economy was already booming as farmers and manufacturers shipped > foodstuffs and military supplies to the belligerent nations. Now the United > States would also generate its own military force that would help overwhelm > the enemy and bring about the armistice of November 11, 1918. Congress > quickly established a draft, and more than 4,600 Selective Service draft > boards screened 10 million men to find the strongest and most fit soldiers > and sailors. The military grew from just 378,000 strong in April 1917 to > more than 4.7 million by war's end, with an Army of 4.1 million and a Navy > of 600,000. Seventy-two percent of enlisted forces were inducted, and the > military population reflected the country's ethnically diverse and racially > segregated society. An estimated 20% of Army draftees were foreign-born and > the troops spoke at least 46 languages, some 5,700 were Mexican aliens, and > 12,500 were American Indians.*8* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B8> (p. 367-409) > More than 400,000 African Americans served in the Army, some in two black > combat divisions but most in labor battalions. > > > The Navy employed only 5,300 black sailors, confining them to positions as > cooks and stewards.*9* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B9> > > War mobilization drew millions of civilians into military institutions and > extended the military into all corners of the country. To train and supply > these men, the Army and Navy expanded existing facilities and directed > training activities at various civilian organizations. Military camps, > arsenals, air fields, and supply depots sprouted up in every state. The > Army began training recruits in the fall of 1917 at 32 large camps, each > home to 25,000 to 55,000 troops. > > > Soldiers also went to specialized camps for training in specific fields > such as artillery training at Camp Knox, Kentucky, railway operations at > Camp Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, military engineering at Camp > Forrest, Georgia, and medical unit training at Camp Crane, Pennsylvania. > The War Department also operated some 40 air fields for aviator training > and 10 embarkation and debarkation camps.*8* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B8> (p. 677-–78) > The Navy expanded its training capacity from 6,000 recruits to more than > 100,000 at stations on both coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, and Lake Michigan, > and also had specialized training centers such as the Navy gas engine > school and the aviation ignition school at Columbia University in New York. > In addition to the training camps, in the summer of 1918 the War Department > established the Student Army Training Corps (SATC), intended to augment the > work of the Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC) and prevent war > mobilization from emptying institutions of higher education. Under the > program, more than 500 colleges and universities trained officer candidates > and provided technical instruction in fields such as auto mechanics and > radio operation. By the Armistice, about 158,000 young men had enrolled in > SATC programs.*8* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B8> (p. 556) This > expansion of military institutions created a virtual network of young > adults across which influenza could and would travel (*Figure 1* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/figure/F1/>). > > .... > > As they conducted their analyses, military medical officers soon > understood that the wave of influenza that had run through many U.S. > training camps during the spring of 1918 constituted a first wave of the > pandemic. Fourteen of the largest training camps had reported influenza > outbreaks in March, April, or May, and some of the infected troops carried > the virus with them aboard ships to France.*12* > <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/#B12> In the late > spring and summer, influenza visited all of the armies of Europe, including > the AEF, but because influenza was common in the military, and few patients > became critically ill, medical officers were not alarmed. But by the late > summer some saw the emergence of a new, lethal influenza. > > https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/ > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. 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