In 1917, at Fort Riley Kansas, a bunch of soldiers came down with some strange sickness. They lined up at the sick call and were seen by the Army Doctors. Headaches, nausea, muscle aches, tired feeling. Aspirin was handed out by the hands full and the men sent back to their barracks. It was believed they had either war jitters or maybe a slight case of a cold or the flu.
Soon the men became much sicker. High fevers followed by listlessness and coma. Some of those stricken died.
The army didn’t think anything was really wrong. People get sick and die, especially in times of war. Maybe this was some kind of food borne illness or perhaps a case of pneumonia. Some said it was Aspirin poisoning. The soldiers that were in close quarters with the men who died were told to not say anything about what was happening. The war was still on and this was considered national security.
Since Spain was the only country talking about this pandemic the disease became known as the Spanish Flu.