The Influenza :: Spanish Influenza Essays

The Influenza It was time to bring in the crops--this was one of the best years I'd ever had. For the first time in a long time, I was looking forward to getting into the field to gather the crop I'd worked so hard to grow. A farmer's life is never easy, but this was my year. I'd managed to get more land, and I was way past the days of just putting food on my family's table. The fall of 1918 turned out to be one of the worst times of my life. I had a rather large family--two boys and two girls. They were all teenagers in 1918. My wife, my children, and I all lived in Riley County, Kansas. Fort Riley's Camp Funston brought a lot of activity into the area. In the fall of 1918, there were soldiers there preparing to go overseas to join in the battles. The soldiers brought new life to our community, as well as chaos. We were happy, for the most part, to have the soldiers around our community, until their presence proved too costly. As I mentioned, in September of 1918, I was eager to get to the fall harvesting. All of my children were excited and ready to help, as they knew the harvest would bring money into the household. We'd heard about the influenza at Camp Funston, and I'd told my family to steer clear of any wayward soldiers. My youngest son began to hang around the camp, against my wishes, in order to see what was occurring there. He and his friends made a habit of sneaking around the outside. We'd managed since the spring to avoid influenza. We heard from workers inside the fort that the soldiers were dying quickly, but we all assumed that it would stay inside the camp and away from our families. Little by little, in the fall, influenza began to creep into the communities around the camp. I thought I was fortunate in that none of my neighbors worked in or near Camp Funston, and I didn't expect to have to deal with any sickness. My family was warned, and everyone in the communities around the camp was being as careful as possible to keep the influenza from spreading. Then my son brought influenza, the soldiers' problem, into our family. The Influenza :: Spanish Influenza Essays The Influenza It was time to bring in the crops--this was one of the best years I'd ever had. For the first time in a long time, I was looking forward to getting into the field to gather the crop I'd worked so hard to grow. A farmer's life is never easy, but this was my year. I'd managed to get more land, and I was way past the days of just putting food on my family's table. The fall of 1918 turned out to be one of the worst times of my life. I had a rather large family--two boys and two girls. They were all teenagers in 1918. My wife, my children, and I all lived in Riley County, Kansas. Fort Riley's Camp Funston brought a lot of activity into the area. In the fall of 1918, there were soldiers there preparing to go overseas to join in the battles. The soldiers brought new life to our community, as well as chaos. We were happy, for the most part, to have the soldiers around our community, until their presence proved too costly. As I mentioned, in September of 1918, I was eager to get to the fall harvesting. All of my children were excited and ready to help, as they knew the harvest would bring money into the household. We'd heard about the influenza at Camp Funston, and I'd told my family to steer clear of any wayward soldiers. My youngest son began to hang around the camp, against my wishes, in order to see what was occurring there. He and his friends made a habit of sneaking around the outside. We'd managed since the spring to avoid influenza. We heard from workers inside the fort that the soldiers were dying quickly, but we all assumed that it would stay inside the camp and away from our families. Little by little, in the fall, influenza began to creep into the communities around the camp. I thought I was fortunate in that none of my neighbors worked in or near Camp Funston, and I didn't expect to have to deal with any sickness. My family was warned, and everyone in the communities around the camp was being as careful as possible to keep the influenza from spreading. Then my son brought influenza, the soldiers' problem, into our family.