Two presentations drew attention to life during World War I as part of Emporia’s All Veterans Tribute on Thursday.
One of the events, the Veterans Roundtable, has been a featured part of the schedule for years. Tyler Johnson presented information on the impact of the 1918 flu pandemic. He says the so-called Spanish flu was extremely deadly because it would weaken the bronchial tubes, often leading to pneumonia and then death. The virus infected upwards of 500 million people around the world and killed as many as 20 percent of those infected, or between three and five percent of the world’s population at the time.
Johnson credited Emporia State history professor Chris Lovett for getting him interested in the topic — especially with the link to Kansas.
The disease actually originated in Kansas, with the initial cases in Haskell County and Fort Riley. However, the virus developed the name “Spanish flu” — and Johnson says there was a definite reason why that happened.
The other activity made its debut Wednesday — the reader’s theater rendition of “Emporia’s Company L in World War I.” ESU theater students portrayed the thoughts of three Emporia soldiers, Col. Arthur Ericcson, Lt. Col. Ellis Christensen and Cpl. Andrew Fry, based on letters and other research through Emporia State’s Special Collections and Archives and the Lyon County History Center.
Thursday was the second and final showing of “Emporia’s Company L in World War I.”
