2017 Fall Newsletter

ston Kansas for military training. Over 1,000 soldiers there became ill in just two weeks, resulting in 38 deaths. Soon outbreaks of the virus went on to other camps as soldiers were moved in the process of pre paring for WW I. Then Europe and the World became open territory for its expansion.

Worst Epidemic May Have Begun In Kansas One Hundred years ago soldiers from Miami County joined or were called to arms for WW I. Of those that were in the service from our county 40 died. Those who were killed in action or dying of wounds totaled only 38%, while those dying of disease was 62% (25) . 1917-1919 were the years of an influenza epidemic that killed world wide more than all the losses of World War I and II combined. The first soldier from Miami County to succumb would be Harold Boice, age 20, who died October 27, 1917 while at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. He was a member of Com pany K infantry. His parents lived near Chiles. The in fluenza would eventually account for 50% of all WWI soldier deaths. As the wave of flu spread through the United States and then to Europe because of the war, the whole world would become infected. Some have estimated that 50-100 million deaths resulted in less than two years; more deaths than AIDS, or the Black Plague in a century. 670,000 Americans died during this time.

Pneumonia became the fear of all, changing the life style of citizens in their work, play and lives. Physicians had few drugs or knowledge on how to fight the virus. Philadelphia had over 12,000 deaths, while Camp Pike in Arkansas had over 8,000 hospitalized at one time. Victor Vaughan, head of the Army Communicable Dis ease Division said “If the epidemic continues its math ematical rate…civilization could easily disappear in a matter of a few more weeks.” But by late 1919, as the war ended and the disease had spread world wide, it seemed to lose its sting and the human immune sys tems recognized the attack resulting in an almost mi raculous reduction in its presence. The flu still returns each year, but with vaccines and antibiotics the world has so far held the next attack in check. But pandemic viruses like Ebola and Zika may yet remain on the horizon. The grave marker of 19 year old Ralph R Chambers who died at Camp Funston OCT 12 1918. By Larry Lybarger. Material in this article was taken in large part form the Smithsonian, Nov. 2017 by John M. Barry. For a short video about Camp Funston and the flu go to this web site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzcVrm2VNXs HAVE YOU HAD YOUR FLUE SHOT LATELY?

A ward at Camp Funston, Kan. showing the many ill patients who caught the 1918 Spanish influenza.

Some scientists now suggest the “Spanish Flu”, so named because of the illness of the king of Spain, should really be called the “Kansas Flu”. In southwest Kansas, near Garden City, a possible source of the virus might have developed from a mutant gene combina tion of bird and swine flu that then spread to humans. From Haskell County soldiers were sent to Camp Fun

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