It’s said “It’s darkest before the dawn.” This might explain the situation in October 1918. On the Western Front American doughboys were dying in record numbers, while at home the Spanish influenza epidemic was wreaking havoc in training facilities such as Camp Dix in New Jersey and threatening to break down modern society on the home front.

The Trenton Times of Oct. 20 reported, “A new high mark for influenza and pneumonia deaths was reached in New York today, when 766 persons died of these…