Flu Took Lives of 20,000 U.S. Soldiers, Says U.S. Secretary of War Baker, Dec. 20, 1918

From a report by Secretary Baker on the achievements of the army during the war, published in The Monroe Journal, Dec. 20, 1918. Newton D. Baker Jr. was U.S. Secretary of War and presided over the army in World War I.

Aside from the influenza, with which medical science has been unable to deal, the health of the Army has been excellent and the death rate from disease in the expeditionary army, 4.7 per 1,000, is almost the same as that of civilians of the age group corresponding to the Army age. It is to be compared with 65 in the civil war and 28 in the Spanish war. Pneumonia was responsible to August 1^st for 56 per cent of all deaths and 63 percent of the deaths from disease. Then came the influenza, which in two months caused about 20,000 deaths, or twice as many as had occurred from disease in the preceding 12 months. The Army was unprepared for it, but the same may be said of all other Armies.