Unknown Soldiers
Elko County, Elko County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Unknown Soldiers. Victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918, ten soldiers died and were buried here without identity. During World War I, troop trains ran regularly through Montello. As soldiers became ill en route, they were unloaded at the nearest hospitals. The Southern Pacific Railroad kept a doctor at Montello who checked every train en route. III passengers were treated in a makeshift hospital at the town’s hotel.The graves were unmarked for years but through the persistent efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Kimber of Montello, and the 40 & 8 of Las Vegas, the previously unmarked graves, although still unidentified as to name, were marked in 1975.Unfortunately, fires had destroyed the original government records, making identification impossible.
Erected by S.D. Peters
The Story
During World War I, troop trains rolled regularly through Montello, and the Southern Pacific stationed a doctor to check every train for the influenza then sweeping the world. Ten soldiers who fell gravely ill in the 1918 epidemic died and were buried here namelessly, their identities lost when fires destroyed the government records. Long unmarked, the graves were finally given markers in 1975 through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Kimber of Montello and the veterans' 40 & 8 society of Las Vegas.
Why it matters
These anonymous graves memorialize the 1918 flu pandemic that killed more American servicemen than combat did, a hidden cost of the First World War.
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Related events
- · 1918 influenza epidemic
- · World War I
Themes & tags
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