I never knew my paternal grandfather, he died when my father was 10, and knew little about his life except he was a doughboy in WWI and died of a heart condition. My cousin found a box of letters after my Uncle died that my grandmother saved and it really gave us all, his grandchildren, a greater knowledge of him. I would just say, it is somewhat ironic that a man with such a great heart died from a failing heart.
When the corona virus, covid-19, emerged I couldn’t help but think of his letters and his experience with the flu while serving in the army. Just some background, he and my grandmother married in January 1918, he was being inducted at Fort Lewis, WA in April and hitting France in September and my uncle was born late October. I’m pretty sure he was drafted as, being 31, a newlywed and having a baby on the way, he had many reasons not to volunteer. In the excerpts from his letters I have kept the few misspellings and grammatical errors to preserve the authenticity.
He wrote to my grandmother about once a week. From the letters the first hint he may be in the infirmary was in his Sept. 29 letter (see also his Dec. 2 letter), commenting on some cakes (cookies maybe) grandma sent him:
09-29-1918
If you could have heard the comments on the cakes dearest you would have been happy. One boy came and we were contentedly munching away and said – “I suppose those G- D- things are for the patients” – and I handed him one and said “Eat that and change your tune” he did and grinned real pleased – “Say you are the luckiest guy in France.”
His October 17 letter is more specific, I assume the worst of his illness was over and he was in the convalescent tent:
10-17-1918
My sweetheart:
Breakfast over and a rather damp morning so I better tell you how I am getting along. An auto brought us over to the camp hospital yesterday and in the afternoon I was examined for re classification but don’t know just what the desicion was. The hospital is an old castle which has a record of its owners on stone and the earliest date is 1306 so you see the place is quite ancient, a big tower and beautiful grounds. The bad sick are quartered in the castle but we who are not sick or convallesent are in tents with spring cots felt matresses and plenty blankets and pillows with real white slips. A big stove keeps us warm and the food is very good and abundant so the fellow who wrote the song “I don’t want to get well,” expresses our thoughts exactly.
I will not get to go up for the fighting and I think its pretty dam- rough too for a fellow coming over and then just dubbing around seems that he isn’t doing his bit. Still I was a well healthy man as you know dearest before I got this spell. I can’t tell you what it is for they would scratch it out – but anyway I am eating and sleeping and without much exertion am as I always was, just dizzy all the time seems to be the most trouble now.
10-23-1918
I won’t ever be able to do real hard work again so you see I will have to make good at something I can do. I of course can milk cows but don’t just fancy that way of making a living.
11-14-1918
….I am in very fine health now and I think the little trouble I had with my heart is all good again or at least I feel all right now. I sure was sick for a month and a half though and if I couldnt have had rest and quiet I am afraid I would have been put in the hospital for a long time.
December 2 he finally got the news my uncle was born (on October 30). My grandmother lived in Florence, Oregon at the time and to deliver the baby she had to go to Eugene. I’m not sure what the arrangements were but his concern over her “confinement” was mentioned in previous letters. I assume she boarded with someone in Eugene just before and after she delivered hurried back home, for which he was grateful. I’m not sure how big Eugene was in 1918 but there was no direct road between Florence and Eugene at the time so Florence, a small fishing and lumber town, would have been one of the better places to avoid the flu.
12-02-1918
Dearest you couldn’t have done better than by coming home for God knows the Flu is a real deadly disease and many thousand of the U.S. soldiers will stay in France till eternity on account of it. When I was in the hospital and got your cakes dearie I was a very sick man and feared I might have to stay in France also, but at last I came through but there were four of the poor fellows there that will stay. Poor fellows as so anxious to do something for the U.S. and to just get sick and die was terrible. But I suppose that even if they had have remained in the USA they might have got the same but it seems so much harder to die over here. How I prayed dear to get well and come back to you and the Lord has done all we have asked, a boy, life, love and happiness…
….Beulah said they had had Flu and Mother had it and luck was with them and they got well.
12-05-1918
The Flue (sic) got bad here in France too and the army physicians were afraid of it as very many were dying every day – but it is all over now and nothing is bothering us but the waiting for orders to go home.
….
I am very glad you didn’t allow anyone to come in while so much Flu was around for I don’t want my dear girl to get that terrible disease for honey its awful you just choke to death at the last. I was near enough to four who died and it terrified me. I was just slightly ill with it at the time and got past without pneumonia.
It’s interesting to see how his Dec. 2 letter he says he was very sick but on the Dec. 5 letter he was just slightly ill. I don’t know if he is trying to play down the danger he was in or if he is saying he had it better compared to others.
He finished his tour in France doing guard duty and being moved around from place to place. He made it home and discharge in April 1919 so spent about a year in service to the country, not seeing combat but still coming back with a mortal injury. His heart was permanently damaged and he became an invalid and died in 1932 when he was 45.
Friday, Mar 13, 2020 · 4:53:56 AM +00:00
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rafe noland
I am honored so many have read this and I love the comments. I had believed it would sit in a dark corner of the web and not be noticed but it seems to have been noticed (!) and triggered a lot of memories. I wrote this mostly as an exercise for myself to put the COVID-19 virus in perspective. I am sure that it won’t be as bad as the Spanish Flu as we have better health care now with antibiotics to prevent secondary/opportunistic infections. The economic repercussions will probably be the hardest for most people.