Harvey Endicott

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, the case of Clayton Endicott took on new interest.   Superficially, Clayton was in the Army but died of disease in the United States before he could go overseas and actually get into the war.  End of story. 

 

 But if you look deeper, what you find is more complex and fascinating, In the first place, it’s ironic that he died of an illness since he was a doctor.  But then, look what he died of: the Spanish Flu pandemic.  

 

For various reasons, history has failed to give due emphasis to what a great catastrophe that was – it killed far more people than the war itself did.  Another thing that people don’t realize today is that it didn’t start in Spain, although there are a number of contradictory theories about where it did start, which we’ll get to in a minute.

 

Furthermore, some observers argue that the pandemic actually helped the Allied war effort because it hurt the enemy the most.  

 

In all of these ways, then, Clayton Endicott was integrally connected to one of the world’s most important events.

 

Clayton’s background

         

 Clayton was the son of John and Alice Endicott and he was born in  Frankfort, Indiana.  He was a physician and enlisted in the Army Medical Corps in August, 1918, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. 

 

 He received his commission as a 1st Lieutenant on September 23, 1918. But then he died of influenza-pneumonia on October 8, 1918, the day he was ordered to report to Ft. Riley, Kansas.

 

 He was buried at Frankfort, Indiana and was survived by his widow, Mabel C. Endicott, and two children, Roberta D. and Russell M. Endicott, of Frankfort, Indiana.