Overseas Units, Foreign Posts and Ships:
The main thrust of all Marine Corps activity in the US was to recruit, train, and form Marines into fighting units for service in France, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and other locations around the globe. These forces on expeditionary duty, in service with the Army in France and on Navy ships, were hit by the influenza pandemic just as their stateside counterparts were. Some had their own preventative measures, and each suffered differently.
The 4th Regiment, while on expeditionary duty in the Dominican Republic, demonstrated how even well-intentioned prophylactic measures could not ensure the safety of the men from the disease. The flu struck the Dominican Republic’s northern province of Monte Cristi, originating in Haiti, in the middle of November 1918. Slow to respond, authorities did not put a quarantine between the province of Santiago and neighboring provinces until 5 December. As if trying to make up for lost time, a massive education campaign commenced; newspapers and pamphlets attempted to educate the military and civilian populations about the disease, method of transmission, prevention and treatment. Schools were shuttered, and public gatherings banned; masks were not required, but strongly recommended in public areas. Despite these efforts, the first Marine diagnosed was an officer returning on a train from Puerto Plata, which had broken quarantine regulations on 9 December. Two days later a mail orderly, riding the same train with the officer, was admitted to the hospital; he failed to report his symptoms in timely fashion, believing them a simple cold. A communal drinking cup in his barracks quickly spread the infection to 15 others just four days later.[1] Despite the late start in combatting the disease, Marines losses in the Dominican Republic were limited to four.
The capital ships of the Navy were not immune from the virus. The USS Pittsburgh (ACR-4) lost 5 of its Marines, all of which died in a span of 12 days in October 1918. The Pittsburgh contracted the disease while in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which was recounted by Rear Admiral William B.Caperton. Admiral Caperton reported that the flu first arrived in Rio on the SS Dannemara on 4 October 1918, and the local health authorities made no effort to quarantine the suspect vessel. Three days later, the Pittsburgh reported just a few cases; however, on the 8th there were 32, and on the 9th there were 92 cases as it quickly spread through the ship. Caperton reported that city hospitals were crowded and coffins were nearly impossible to locate.[2] All told, 647 cases were admitted to the sick list, 58 of which died.[3]
Ships transporting the Marines across the Atlantic were easy targets for the pandemic; often over-crowded, lacking appropriate sanitation and with men held captive for the journey, the flu spread easily. The flu that broke out on the USS Henderson (AP-1) in September 1918 was traced back to Marine Barracks Quantico where the 13th Regiment was being formed from new recruits out of Parris Island, and 175 veterans from Haiti and Dominican Republic. Ten days prior to embarkation upon the Henderson, the men of the 3d Battalion, 13th Regiment were examined by doctors and exhibited no symptoms. Therefore, nearly 1,200 men and officers were loaded on the Henderson and proceeded across the Atlantic. Despite the health inspection prior to departure, on 14 September the first influenza cases were diagnosed on the ship. As the days progressed the numbers increased to a height of 107 new cases on 18 September; on 19 September the ship had 206 cases of influenza on the sick list. When this voyage was complete, 5.45% of Marines inflicted died from influenza.[4]
In command of the 13th Regiment was Colonel Smedley D. Butler; in separate letters home to his wife, and parents, Butler recounted the trip across the Atlantic. On 5 October, Butler wrote to his wife that the flu on the Henderson quickly turned into a vicious form of pneumonia and sickened 500 men, and when the ship arrived in Brest 250 were immediately sent to the hospital.[5] Even Butler himself was not immune to the disease; he reported to his parents that he “was not seriously or dangerously sick, but felt terrible and the doctors feared
I was getting pneumonia, but I did not.”[6] Butler went on to praise the medical staff for their “superhuman” performance to save “two thirds of the cases.”[7] Once the men of the 13th Regiment were on solid ground at Brest, France, they were immediately pulled out of quarantine and put into action to assist other inflicted troops who arrived nearly at the same time. Company K, 3d Battalion, 13th Regiment reported in a brief history that they were put to work pitching tents, hauling mounted field kitchens and distributing food to the ill troops. They carried the packs of the weakest members and procured bedding for those in need.[8]
Even the tiny outpost in the middle of the Atlantic was not immune to the pandemic. Ponta Delgada on the Portuguese island of São Miguel in the Azores was home to the First Marine Aeronautic Company and a detachment of Marines at Naval Base #13 during the war. While it was reported in the Annual Report of the Navy Department, and subsequent published histories, that the flu arrived in the Azores via the Japanese ship Shensi Maru in September 1918, the flu arrived two months earlier as recorded by one of the Marines.[9] Second Lieutenant Walter S. Poague, a naval aviator stationed in Ponta Delgada, maintained a journal and it recorded that the flu struck his unit on 7 July 1918. “Boyton [2dLt Alan H. Boyton] has become very ill...Brewster [Capt David L. S. Brewster, commanding officer] is sick in bed and all of us feel badly in greater or less degree, I included. Spanish influenza they call it.”[10] Poague was a poor example of preventative measures as he reported for officer-of-the-day duty on 16 July 1918, as normal, despite being quite ill. After his shift was complete, he visited the doctor and was immediately admitted to the hospital of canvas tents where he stayed for two days.[11] Mercifully, the numbers of Marines killed by the flu was limited to four.[12]
[1] 4th Regiment, Dominican Republic, November and December 1918 Muster Rolls, Ancestry.com, Accessed 8 April 2020, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/ and Annual Reports of the Navy Department, 2378.
[2] William B. Caperton, Naval History and Heritage Command, “Personal Account by Rear Admiral William B. Caperton of the 1918 Influenza on Armored Cruiser No. 4, USS Pittsburgh, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” accessed 5 April 2020, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/i/influenza/admiral-william-b-caperton-of-the-1918-influenza-on-armored-cruiser-no-4-uss-pittsburgh.html.
[3] Annual Reports of the Navy Department, 2439.
[4] Ibid., 2116
[5] Letter, Smedley D. Butler to Ethel Butler, 5 October 1918, Smedley Butler Papers, COLL/3124; Box 5, Folder 5, Historical Resources Branch, Marine Corps History Division.
[6] Letter, Smedley D. Butler to Thomas and Maude Butler, 5 October 1918, Smedley Butler Papers, COLL/3124; Box 5, Folder 5, Historical Resources Branch, Marine Corps History Division.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Brief History of Company K, 13th Regiment, Unit Files, Historical Resources Branch, Marine Corps History Division.
[9] Annual Report of the Navy Department, 2245 and Crosby, America’s Forgotten Pandemic, 121.
[10] Antonio M. Godinho, ed., “Marines in the Azores Islands in World War I: Diary of Walter S. Poague,” Fortitudine, Vol 37, no 1 (2012): 32.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “1918 Flu” Spreadsheet, Author’s Collection.
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