The 1918 Spanish Flu story...

[brooklynite]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[smirkymonkey]

1. K&R

[Submariner]

2. My paternal grandfather died in the 1918 flu epidemic

My grandmother said he was a lean healthy robust 32 year old. They emigrated together from Italy 8 years earlier. He was a longshoreman working in the Boston Port, and she said he got what seemed like mild cough one day, but was dead 3 days later.

It's in my DNA, so I didn't need much convincing to get my annual flu shot by Labor Day each year.

[JenniferJuniper]

4. My 41 year old greatgrandfather

signed his "old man draft" card in Boston on 9/12/1918. Men where brought into churches, schools, and courthouses on that day to register. He worked on the railroad.

Three weeks later he died in an army cot in a church that was serving as makeshift urgent care.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. There was a saying about it: "Opened the door and in flew enza".

My grandfather died of it at age 36.