The U.S. military and the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919

Abstract

The American military experience in World War I and the influenza pandemic were closely intertwined. The war fostered influenza in the crowded conditions of military camps in the United States and in the trenches of the Western Front in Europe. The virus traveled with military personnel from camp to camp and across the Atlantic, and at the height of the American military involvement in the war, September through November 1918, influenza and pneumonia sickened 20% to 40% of U.S. Army and Navy personnel. These high morbidity rates interfered with induction and training schedules in the United States and rendered hundreds of thousands of military personnel non-effective. During the American Expeditionary Forces' campaign at Meuse-Argonne, the epidemic diverted urgently needed resources from combat support to transporting and caring for the sick and the dead. Influenza and pneumonia killed more American soldiers and sailors during the war than did enemy weapons.

Figure 1.

Locations of Army training camps in the U.S. in 1918

Figure 2.

Deaths per 1,000 soldiers each week during 1918–1919 in the U.S. Army

Figure 3.

Total deaths in the U.S. Army including Marines attached to it: April 6, 1917, to July 1, 1919