2. A Parade in the Middle of a Pandemic
Late summer, 1918, was a depressing time. WWI had raged for four years, millions had been killed, and millions more had been wounded. Many more around the world, even those far away from the battlefields, suffered from the disruptions and hardships caused by history’s greatest war to date. By then, America had joined the war, and Doughboy deaths and injuries had steadily increased from a trickle to a torrent. Against that grim backdrop, the authorities in Philadelphia decided that the public could do with a morale boost.
So a huge parade was organized to raise spirits, and simultaneously support the troops by selling Liberty Loans – government-issued bonds that paid for the war. The parade would feature uniformed soldiers, Boy Scouts, women’s groups, Boy Scouts, and many marching bands. All would be capped by a concert headlined by the “March King” himself, composer and conductor John Philip Sousa. There was a hiccup, however, that the authorities overlooked, or more accurately, ignored: the Spanish Flu, the modern era’s deadliest pandemic.
