The War continued abroad and across the country, the influenza pandemic was now in every State. While most movies portray young men serving, there were also many, many women who served.

More than 1,476 U.S. Navy nurses (American military nurses were all women then) served in military hospitals stateside and overseas. Over 400 U.S. military nurses died in service, almost all from the Spanish flu epidemic which swept through crowded military camps, hospitals, and ports of embarkation.^[3][4]

The first American women enlisted into the regular armed forces were 13,000 women admitted into active duty in the U.S. Navy. They served stateside in jobs and received the same benefits and responsibilities as men, including identical pay (US$28.75 per month), and were treated as veterans after the war.

In Rochester, there were 442 new cases, making a total of 2,684 cases. That, however, was only with one-half of City physicians providing the data. There were 21 deaths the day before.

© words by Daniel DeMarle 4/28/2020