Influenza Hits Camp Dodge: Iowa Time Machine September 28, 1919

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 28, 1919, the Base Hospital at Camp Dodge near Des Moines went into quarantine because of the influenza pandemic. As World War I wound down, the 32,000-troop installation on the edge of Iowa’s capital city braced for the ravages of a non-military threat to public health and safety.

The first cases of the Spanish Flu spread into the state over the course of September, and papers reported four dead at the Industrial Training School for Boys in Eldora. By late September, the Base Hospital went into quarantine due to over 300 suspected cases among soldiers at Camp Dodge. Fennon Landers, a Private from Henderson, Kentucky, died on October 1, sending the camp into a frenzy.

As the pandemic peaked in the camp over the following weeks, hundreds of military health personnel scrambled to treat more than 6,000 soldiers who fell ill. As many fell sick and died within a span of hours, camp officials struggled to keep up with the widespread loss of life as hundreds died in the first two weeks.

By the time military officials released summative reports in November, at least 702 soldiers of 10,000 who fell ill ultimately died. Only a year later, the federal government decommissioned the base and handed control to the Iowa National Guard, a transfer tangentially related to the distrust that developed between the community and the camp during the fall of 1919, when the pandemic raged at Camp Dodge. #Iowa #OTD #History #PublicHealth #Influenza