influenza

America's Forgotten Pandemic is truly terrifying. The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than the bubonic plague; in the U.S., 670,000 people died in 15 months. When you read of the great numbers of people dying, whole families succumbing, shortages of coffins, it’s nearly unbelievable.

All of this is set against the backdrop of the Great War in which people and cities did not want to appear unpatriotic. Americans turned out in scores for Liberty Loan parades. Young men were crammed into training camps and then troop transports, allowing the disease to spread like wildfire. This