Soldiers Battled Pandemic in Waning Days of World War I

Soldiers from Camp Fremont celebrate the end of World War I on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

Note all of the soldiers are wearing masks due to the 1918 pandemic. Photo courtesy of "The Story of Camp Fremont" and the Menlo Park Historical Society.

I'm working on a new book, which will be a collection of my articles so I'm going back and making sure they still hold up. When I first wrote about Barbara Wilcox's book in 2018, "World War I Army Training by San Francisco Bay: The Story of Camp Fremont," my article was mostly a promotion for an upcoming talk the author was giving. I grew up right down the road from Stanford and I had never heard about this vanished military base. 

When I re-read the book in 2021, I found its section on the 1918 pandemic absolutely fascinating for obvious reasons. So I wrote a new column for the local paper. Click the link for my report. 

The WW I Pandemic on the SF Peninsula