War and Disease

The July 4, 1919 edition of the Pike County New presented a box on the front page above the fold just below the masthead, with the title, Our Heroes – Killed, Wounded, Captured.  These were Pike County soldiers serving with U.S. forces in World War I:

OUR HEROES --- KILLED, WOUNDED, CAPTURED

“Below is given a partial list of our noble boys who were killed in action, died of disease and wounded in the recent war.” 

Counts of the named soldiers by cause of death produced these totals: Died in service: 30 – 16 killed in action or died from wounds; 14 died of disease; Wounded: 83; Captured - 1

The population of Pike County in 1920 was under 50,000, so to lose 30 men in a relatively short period was a great sacrifice.  However by comparison, if the percentage of soldiers to perish was the same as that of the entire country in the Civil War, over 800 men from Pike County would have died.

The years 1916 through 1920 were troubled times for this world.  There was, of course, the ruinous World War I, which multiple sources claim was the first American war in which more soldiers died from combat than disease.  That may be true, but I believe it was due to the achieved proficiency of killing more than advancements in the field of medicine.  For example, Britain lost over 20,000 men in one day - July 1, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme.  Aircraft were first used in this war, and the damage from the bombs dropped from them could be horrific.  But something else was going on in the world that would kill more people globally than all wars combined:  the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.

Heart disease has been the biggest killer of American men and women every year since 1910, with the exception of 1918-1920 when influenza took over.  Notice above that almost half of the WWI Pike Co. soldier deaths were due to disease.  At Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Ky., which provided training for soldiers from all over the country, 1500 soldiers died of the flu pandemic, which ironically was about twice the number of Kentuckians who died in combat.