PANDEMIC PRAIRIE PEDIGREE

Most likely, like mine, your family has a story to tell of the most recent past pandemic that occurred in 1917 and stretched into 1919. The influenza, or Spanish Flu, as it was mistakenly called, is thought to have originated in the World War I military training camp outside Fort Riley, Kansas known as Camp Funston. Having spent time at Camp Funston during a hot, humid summer training in preparation for an overseas deployment in 2006, I understand the virology of how men from small farms and large cities packed together in close quarters, when horses were still th...