One fourth of all Iowans had the flu in 1918 and 1919.

"In October 1918 an influenza epidemic which had swept the country struck Camp Dodge. The first case I saw occurred in my battalion. We were out on a combat training exercise. Having no ambulances, I had the stricken soldier put on my orderly's horse, and I escorted him back to the camp hospital, the epidemic struck all units of the division, but it appeared to me that those men who had just joined us from Alaska were particularly susceptible. In the company I brought from Butte, Montana, there were, as I remember it, only five influenza cases and no deaths, but one of the companies from Alaska, which had only eighty-six men assigned, developed eighty-five cases of influenza and twenty-five deaths. Many of my close friends were lost, including Major Bill Dean, who had been a football star at West Point while I was a cadet. I vividly remember the sad sight of dozens of corpses being taken to the undertaking establishment in Des Moines." (Omar N Bradley, General of the Army and a Major at the time with the 19th Division)

click here for a map and more details about the base hospital.

View from inside a hospital ward. (click image to view larger)

View of nurses with patients. (click image to view larger)

View of nurses qarters. (click to view larger)

View of nurses quarters. (click to view larger)

View from inside a hospital ward. (click image to view larger)