by Nancy Bristow

As American soldiers mobilized for war in the spring of 1918, a handful of army physicians began noticing a worrisome influenza moving among their soldiers. Often resulting in a deadly pneumonia, it struck down previously healthy young men, sometimes with surprising rapidity. Post-mortem exams revealed soggy lungs with evidence of hemorrhaging. Beyond these limited military observations, though, few in the United States noticed that the first wave of a deadly influenza pandemic was underway.