The Spanish Flu swept across the globe from 1918 through 1920. It claimed the lives of at least 675,000 Americans and 50 million worldwide. The smiling boy in this photograph, posed among the backyard shrubbery in Washington, Missouri, was one of it’s victims.
Emil John Brockmann, the only child of John and Lena (Meyer), died on his 11th birthday, March 2, 1919.
As with the current Covid19 crisis, the 1918 Flu pandemic brought mask mandates, health care worker shortages, business and school closings, and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues.
Emil suffered with the illness for 24 days before it took his life. I think J.P. McVoy summed it up well…”Some call it flu – I call it hell.”
Sources:
Census records
Missouri death records
Find a Grave
CDC ~ 1918 Pandemic
History.com ~ Spanish Flu
What a sweet face but oh such a sad story.
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How awful and scary. Back in those days no one even understood that the flu was caused by a virus.
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Wow! Such a sad story. I wish we could know what the celebration was in the photo.
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I’ve had a couple of people say it might have been related to a fair project. I initially thought religious, as in confirmation, but then noticed there are no religious artifacts.
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