The Deadliest Flu in History 8

Deadliest Flu in History 8

History buffs would remember the saying, “Good old Wilson.” President Woodrow Wilson had been preparing for war since April 1917, but obtaining adequate troops prepared for war took time.

It would not be until the summer of 1918 when Wilson’s intent was directed at war.

Wilson did other things; he created the food administration, fuel administration, rationed coal and gasoline, and did everything but drive the railroads’ engine. He also created more income by creating a barge line on the Mississippi River, which started the competition with the railroad.

Wilson developed and instructed states to build various military institutions, which you have heard about during this article’s reading. Now the United States had tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors, and on top of that, Wilson created shipyards with thousands of workers and builders of hundreds of ships.

He also dug new coal mines to produce coal; the nation was suffering during the coal strike of 1918. Schools were closed and places of entertainment, but most of all, places of employment let people go because no coal meant no heat, especially during the winter months.

Wilson was determined to bring this country back. So perhaps that’s why we remember the saying, “Good old Wilson.”

One thing president Wilson did not expect was the deadliest flu to hit the United States. He began traveling from military institution to the next during the summer of 1918.

This was when the government expanded the draft and changed the age from 21 to 30, now 18 to 45. He also began the work or fight order, and he believed if you were not employed with the industry, you should be drafted. So began an estimated 13 million people to register for the draft.

Peace was not far away, but Wilson shrugged the idea. At the same time, Austria had inquired about peace. Bulgaria signed an armistice on September 29, 1918; it was then that Ludendorff warned the government that Germany must begin peace feelers would feel immediate disaster.

Although Germany followed suit, Wilson ignored it. Austria submitted a letter to President Wilson and requested piece by any means but only a week or so later, more deaths and destruction. Wilson had mentioned the statement, “peace without victory.”

This gave Americans the feeling that war must continue. Wilson believed the war profited the country, and he said, “To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, force, force to the utmost. Force without limit. The righteous and triumphant force which shall make right the law of the world, and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust.”

This brought about the parade in Philadelphia for the liberty loan rallies when people were pushing and shoving, breathing down each other’s neck, and spreading the flu. During the parade, you heard the shouts from the people, “good old Wilson.”

It was the military who felt the impact of the flu. On the day that Wilson delivered the powerful speech noted above, was the day that Welch stepped out of the autopsy room and told the chief of staff, “any transfers from this room will be frozen, it was indispensable, and under no circumstances transfers from infected camps be made: the deaths at Camp Devens will probably exceed 500 and the experience at Camp Devens is expected to occur at large cantonments – – new men will almost surely contact the disease.”

As you recall, there was no stopping the transfer of people in the military from one camp to another, and the warning was never taken to heart. Weeks later, tens of thousands of soldiers were dead or dying. The only adjustment made came from Crowder, who demanded the next draft be canceled. The draft would have included 142,000 men in new camps around the country. Because of Crowder, it is known that he and he alone saved thousands from death. He stated, “There would be no training until the disease passed.”

Although Crowder was right, the federal government demanded a replacement of troops who had passed away due to the disease.

At this time, the vessel “Leviathan” began to load troops onto its deck. On her voyage back to the United States, many of the men and boys were dumped overboard, dying from the flu from Germany. When the shift arrived in New York, many were sick, including the Navy Franklin Roosevelt secretary. Roosevelt was so ill with the flu that he spoke to know what, and doctors kept a constant watch on the secretary.

The medical Corps insisted that any man who showed signs of the flu could not board any ship. Now, the military personnel who carried guns enforced this law. Besides, if any military personnel became ill while traveling aboard a ship, they would be closed behind watertight doors, like fish in the sea. They would remain alone either to die or be cared for upon arrival into the states. Military personnel were afraid to be near anyone who carried this disease.

What happened on the vessel mentioned above was told by Col. Gibson, who was the commander of the 57^th, Vermont, “The ship was packed – conditions were such that influenza could breed and multiply with extraordinary swiftness. The number of sick increased rapidly, Washington was apprised of the situation, but the call for men for the Allied armies was so great that we must go on at any cost. Doctors and nurses were stricken.

Every available doctor and nurse was utilized to the limit of endurance. The conditions during the night cannot be visualized by anyone who had not actually seen them. Moans and cries of the terrified added to the confusion of the applicants clamoring for treatment and altogether a true inferno reigned supreme.”

This was not the only ship with reports like Gibson. People reported the dead lined the deck as bodies lined the ground at Camp Devens. There was no room for any sick; there was no free medical help. Everyone was either sick or dying or busy. Some people recall ships in storms where bodies rolled from the deck into the sea. Like other military institutions on land, the deaths came within hours of each other, and the burials at sea began.

Back on land, the doctors reported that hospitals were closing because of the epidemic. There would be no place for the sick at sea when they returned home.

It would be hard to believe in this day and age that Pres. Wilson made no public statement to the people of our country. It is known that people spoke to the president concerning this outbreak and the deaths at sea on military vessels, but Wilson took no action.

Pres. Wilson’s physician was Dr. Grayson, also the doctor for Teddy Roosevelt’s and William Howard Taft when holding President’s office. Grayson was the president’s physician and a friend, and in this case, advisor. {If you recall, Pres. Wilson had a stroke in 1919, and it would be Grayson and the first lady who ran this country.} It would be Grayson who told Wilson to stop the deployment of man to France, and finally, the president agreed.

After the military stopped arriving in France, the war ended within a month.

Pres. Wilson had few concerns about those suffering and dying from this disease, in the military, and the general public. He continued to say nothing publicly about influenza, and there is no record of Pres. Wilson speaking to any civilian of the government about ways to end this disease.

The answer, the Surgeon General, Rupert Blue, who also headed the United States Public health service. It was no secret that Welch and von never liked the public health service representative, and even the president’s own Dr. Grayson disliked the man.  Everyone knew his background, blue, finishing his medical studies in 1892, entered the public health service and immediately began serving the military from port to port.

His first ignorant act happened in San Francisco with the bubonic plague of 1903. He kept the disease under control and gained many powerful friends through his medical research. But he never did eradicate the plague from spreading from animals, rats, dogs that entered inland to Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. After he praised his own success in San Francisco, the plague reappeared in 1907. Once again, he eradicated the disease in San Francisco, which won him additional friends from the higher up.

Blue also began to Congress the expansion of public health services. He pushed for national health insurance and then was named president of the American medical association in 1916. During his address, he told the people, “There are unmistakable signs that health insurance will constitute the next great step in social legislation.”

When Wilson was elected, he never named the new Surgeon General, but he did make the public health service part of the military.

If you recall, Dr. Gorgas, from previous articles, advised the generals of such a disease before the epidemic began. It was Dr. Blue, who did absolutely nothing with the information. He did block the research which was requested by powerful doctors in both New York and Boston.

He also stopped money from going to a laboratory to research pneumonia at the Rockefeller Institute. Dr. blue knew the possibility of an epidemic in the United States. His comments were written in the Memphis medical monthly on August 1, which mentioned a warning concerning the flu. He prepared nothing, nor did he gather any research or information concerning this disease. He never informed anyone in the public health service to prepare in case of a crisis.

Remember the breakout at the Commonwealth. In Boston late in August 1918. Remember, hospitals were filled with those sick and dying by September 9, 1918? Remember, Devens had 3500 flu cases, and this spread to civilians in Massachusetts. Talk about politics – it would not be until September 10 when the public health official in Massachusetts said he first heard of this epidemic. The virus already spread.  If you recall, the ports released ships filled with sick and dying military men who arrived at ports in New Orleans by 4 September.

The naval station at the Great Lakes by September 7, and in Connecticut at the docks in New London on September 12. How could any public health official know nothing about such a large epidemic? Why would the public health official wait until September 13 to make any public announcement? On that day, the head of public health sent a notification out which stated this was only influenza, nothing else, and no need for quarantine.

To remind you, influenza then reached Puget Sound on September 17. The head of public health began to see the spread of influenza as the disease entered the military bases and civilians.

It wasn’t until September 21 that Washington DC had its first death from influenza, a common man who worked for the railroad. It is known that this man was exposed to the flu four days earlier in New York City. The timeframe continued for people who left places where the flu spread like wildfire and entered other states, New Jersey, Virginia, and so forth, finally feel this is a disease that is rapidly killing the people of the United States.

I want to take a moment before ending this part of the deadliest flu in the world with a handout from the surgeon general. It read; avoid needless crowding – smother your cough and sneezes – you know not your mouth was made to breathe through – remember the three C’s clean mouth, clean skin, and clean close – food will win the war – health by choosing and chewing your food well – wash your hands before eating – don’t let the waste products of digestion accumulate – avoid tight close, tight shoes, tight gloves – seek to make nature your ally, not your prisoner – when the air is pure or breathe all of it you can – breathe deeply.

Other parts in this series:
The Deadliest Flu in History (1)
The Deadliest Flu in History (2)
The Deadliest Flu in History (3)
The Deadliest Flu in History (4)
The Deadliest Flu in History (5)
The Deadliest Flu in History (6)
The Deadliest Flu in History (7)
The Deadliest Flu in History (8)