The Unseen Foe: Camp Devens in the 1918 Influenza Epidemic

112 Shawmut Avenue, Boston MA

Description

Within days of arriving in Boston at the end of August 1918, the Spanish influenza epidemic quickly moved 40 miles west to Camp Devens where, on September 8, it began its devastation of the cantonment. Overcrowded with almost 45,000 enlisted men, one third fell ill with the virus and related infections by month’s end. Close to 1,000 men and women would lose their lives to the virus. After the worst was over, Boston Globe reporter William J. Robinson wrote: “The whole battle to rid the camp of Spanish influenza is a story of never-ending toil, of sleepless days and nights, of heroic devotion to duty, of weary heavy-lidded, dogged resistance against an unseen and practically unknown foe.” "The Unseen Foe: Camp Devens in the 1918 Influenza Epidemic" is presented by Kara Fossey, Executive Director of The Fort Devens Museum and sponsored by The Harvard Historical Society. https://fb.me/e/1axqklkDL