First Lieutenant Samuel Goodglick, U.S. Army Medical Corps, was an army surgeon in charge of the Coos Bay district, and after vigil of nights and days in caring for influenza victims among the soldiers in the spruce-camp, was himself stricken. He died of bronchopneumonia following influenza in North Bend, Oregon on November 8, 1918. “Funeral services for First Lieutenant Samuel Goodglick, of the Army Medical Corps, whose devotion to duty in caring for influenza victims in the many spruce camps of the Coos Bay district is considered the cause of his own death.” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 12 Nov 1918) He is buried at Bikur Cholim Cemetery in Seattle. (bit.ly/uw_goodglick)
Born in New York, Samuel moved to Seattle at a young age and graduated from Broadway High School. He was the middle child of Meyer Goodglick and Gertrude Anna Sperling’s seven children. He studied for two years at the University of Washington, between 1910 and 1912, completing his education at Columbia University. He studied then medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, also at Columbia. Following his graduation from medical school, he served for two years in Lincoln Hospital in New York City. Volunteering in the army as a private, he was later commissioned and promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.
“Working day and night to take care of a number pneumonia patients that poured into Base Hospital 50” Private Charles Norman Fletcher contracted the disease and died on October 9, 1918; two days later. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 28 Nov 1918.) At the time of his death he was ward master in the hospital, responsible for the patients and the enlisted staff. He was buried in the Army cemetery at Mesves, in the department of Nievre, his name inscribed in a notebook of burials by chaplain Bergen Hansen. He was later reinterred in Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery. (bit.ly/uw_fletcher)
At the time he registered for the draft, Charles was working at a salmon cannery in Dundas Bay, Alaska. One of the first to enlist after the organization of the base hospital in Seattle, by Major James B. Eagleson, Charles withdrew during his sophomore year at the UW to enlist having previously been rejected in earlier attempts to enlist in either the infantry or artillery. Born in Buckley, Washington, Charles was survived by his mother and father, Anna and Charles Fletcher, natives of Scotland and English, respectively and an older sister. He death was the first gold star for his fraternity Kappa Sigma. Charles was a graduate of Broadway High School.
Corporal Albert Merrill Farmer, a member of the 105th Aero Squadron with the Spruce Production Divisions died on pneumonia following influenza at Vancouver Barracks on November 15, 1918. Albert is buried at Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery, together with his parents. (bit.ly/uw_farmer)
Born in Chicago, Albert was the only surviving child of Robert W. Farmer and his wife, Mary Ann Walker Crockett, natives of Canada and Scotland respectively. The family moved west to Seattle in 1906 where Albert attended Broadway High School. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1916.
In 1914, Albert was united in marriage with Clara Bargett Reinicke in Tacoma. Clara was a painter of some renown and inventor. She married for a second time and known professionally as Clara Reinicke Dripps.
During the influenza epidemic in Seattle “one enlisted member of the SATC died subsequently, failing to survive a hospital operation necessitated by after complications.” (The Fifteenth Biennial Report of the Board of Regents of the University of Washington to the Governor of Washington, January 1919, pg. 16.) That soldier was Private George Vernon Evans who died November 20, 1918, at Providence Hospital after surgery to treat an empyema (lung abscess) following influenza.
When thinking of ways in which colleges could contribute to the war in a greater way, the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) was formed to establish a military unit in every college that could furnish a minimum of one hundred able-bodied men of military age. The Student Army Training Corps (SATC) was established by act of Congress in August, 1918, to train young men to fill positions in the military which was viewed as a top priority for universities. This gave students the chance to take part in a collegiate, learning atmosphere while also training to become a soldier. The SATC was jointly administered by the military at 157 colleges and universities.
George was the youngest of three boys born to Jerome Henry Evans and Matilda Louise Schmidt. Born in Winona, Minnesota, George and his family moved to Yakima when he was a child. George registered for the draft in September, 1918, and had just begun the SATC program when the influenza epidemic hit. George died just one month shy of his 20th birthday and is buried at Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima. (bit.ly/uw_evans)
Lieutenant James Mills Eagleson, of the 69th Coast Artillery Corps, died of pneumonia following influenza on February 19, 1919, at Newport News, Virginia. He had just returned, together with his unit, from France. En route he contracted influenza and his condition quickly worsened. A telegram was sent from the USS Mercury to the ship — also in the midst of a transatlantic crossing — conveying his father, Dr. James Eagleson, home following his service with the AEF as medical director of Base Hospital 50. Dr. Eagleson’s ship made port in New York first and he raced to Virginia, arriving in time to be there when his son’s ship docked. James died shortly after his ship reached Newport News with his father by his side.
James was the oldest of four children born to James Beaty Eagleson and his wife, Clara Blanche Mills. A native of Seattle, “Jimmie” was a graduate of Broadway High School. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1917 with a degree in science. At the UW, Eagleson served a term as yell king and was a member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. James married UW classmate Mary Geneva Sims in Seattle on November 24, 1917. James attended the first Officers’ Training School at the Presidio and graduated with a commission of second lieutenant. He was attached to the 69th Artillery at Fort Casey, where he was promoted to first lieutenant. In July, 1918, he accompanied his unit abroad. Several weeks later, Geneva gave birth to their son, James Sims Eagleson, in Seattle.
Several years after his death, James’ parents set about building a new YMCA for the UW community. Eagleson Hall, home of the YMCA at the University of Washington, was dedicated to the memory of James in March of 1923. Four-year-old James Sims Eagleson led the ceremonial groundbreaking in June of 1922 and Eagleson Hall was completed at a cost of $100,000, including furnishings, in 1923. It remained the home of the YMCA until it was sold to the University in 1963. James is buried at Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery together with his parents. (bit.ly/uw_eagleson)
Influenza claimed the life of another well-known UW athlete, Sergeant Walter Clifford Dunbar, of Company B, 161st Infantry. Walter died of pneumonia following influenza on December 30, 1918 in France. Walter went overseas with the 161st in December of 1917. A native of Michigan, Walter was one of five children born to William Henry Dunbar and Nellie Catherine Doust. Walter was a 1910 graduate of Seattle High School — where he was known as Skinny — and then worked his way through the School of Mines at the University of Washington. His 1911 undergraduate thesis was titled “Excavation of ground and timbering used during construction of the north trunk sewer in Seattle, Washington.”
Walter was coxswain of the varsity rowing club for three years and went to Poughkeepsie under Coach Conibear where the Washington boat took an impressive third place. Dunnie, as he was known at the UW, was the captain of the rowing team, a class officer, and contributor to both the Pacific Wave (the precursor to The Daily) and the UW’s yearbook, the Tyee. He was considered as a rowing coach for UC Berkeley but went on to receive a Masters in Civil Engineering from the UW instead. Walter is buried at St. Mihiel American Cemetery in France. (bit.ly/uw_dunbar)
On November 18, 1917 – at just 21 years-old – William Reynolds Cutler was killed in action when his plane crashed near Etaples, France, while serving with the 70th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. As a pilot with the “English Camels” – known as the “eyes” of the Allies – Cutler performed the most dangerous scouting duties. (1919 Tyee, pg. 43.) His military career was short but brilliant. He is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery (bit.ly/uw_cutler) near Boulogne.
The son of Melville Fixott Cutler and Isabella Maud Woodill, Bill was a native of Victoria, British Columbia. He was the first airman casualty from Victoria High School. A member of Sigma Chi at the University of Washington, Bill was active in wrestling and track and majoring in chemical engineering. A poem dedicated to Cutler, composed by classmate Don Rockwell, ’17, was published in the 1918 Tyee and concludes:
Bill Cutler, bright, brave little star,
You gave your life to point the war
For those who fought like men at night
Your eyes for them the only sight—
Bill Cutler, bright, brave little star,
Who fell from high in this great war.
Musician Edward Charles Cunningham died of pneumonia following influenza at an Officers’ Training Camp in France on December 1, 1918. He entered the University of Washington as a freshman in Mechanical Engineering in 1916, a member of the Class of 1920. Like so many others, he enlisted following the declaration of war in April of 1917.
Following his enlistment he was sent to Camp Murray – home of the Washington National Guard – for training. He was sent overseas on December 12, 1917, with the 161st Infantry, 41st Division, as a member of the Infantry Band. His high standing as a soldier won him an appointment to the Officers’ Training Camp, but he died before completing the course.
An Honor Roll published by Whitman County, states he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Cunningham of St. John, Washington, but additional family details have not been located. Edward is buried at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France. (bit.ly/uw_cunningham)
Lieutenant Dow Russell Cope, Aviation Section Signal Reserve Corps, was killed when his plane crashed near Tours, France, on June 16, 1918. Some newspaper accounts recorded his death as one of the first aviators to die while serving in Europe. He had recently been commissioned a lieutenant. A son of Walter Cope and Inez Mallory, Dow was born in Salem, Illinois, one of five children. He grew up in Yakima where he graduated from Yakima High School. A gifted debater, he was a member of the Stevens Debating Club at the University of Washington which he attended for one year as a Freshman in Liberal Arts. While at the UW, he also a popular boxing instructor at Seattle’s YMCA.
Dow later enrolled at Cumberland College in Lebanon, Tennessee where he studied music, played football and later pursued a law degree. Dow had the distinction of playing for Cumberland on October 7, 1916, when the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets — known as the “Golden Tornado” and coached by John Heisman — beat the Cumberland Bulldogs 222-0 in the most lopsided-victory in the history of college football. A member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, Dow was working as a lawyer at Fort Oglethorpe, in Georgia at the time of his enlistment. Originally buried in France, Dow’s remains were repatriated to the US in 1920 and he was laid to rest at Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima. (bit.ly/uw_cope)
Seattle-born Lloyd Thomas Cochran was the middle of three sons born to William Cochran and his wife, Lena Sather, a native of Norway. A 1912 graduate of Ballard High School, Lloyd attended the University of Washington graduating with a law degree in 1917. Even before the US entered the war, Lloyd had applied to the first Officers Training School at the Presidio and been awarded a commission. At the time his unit shipped overseas in July of 1918, Lloyd was a 2nd Lieutenant with Company F of the 363rd Infantry Regiment which was part of the 91st Infantry Division — known as the “Wild West Division” — out of Camp Lewis. Lloyd was the first man of Company F to be killed. Cochran was killed by a German sniper as he led his unit in a charge on the first day of the battle of Meuse-Argonne, September 26, 1918.
Just minutes before he and his company had discovered “a German machine gun “nest” with six or eight Germans around it. A German prisoner, who had escaped the bombardment had been captured a half hour before and was questioned sharply. He lied about the location of the machine gun but Cochran said not to handle the prisoner too rough as he would not like to be mistreated himself if a prisoner” as reported in the Seattle Daily Times in a series of articles written by Colin Dyment, Director of the UW’s School of Journalism. (Seattle Daily Times, Apr 14, 1919, pg. 7). Dyment goes on to say the German snipers responsible for Lloyd’s death were “promptly executed”. Originally buried at Bois de Cheppy, in France, Lloyd was reinterred in Seattle’s Evergreen-Washington Cemetery. (bit.ly/uw_cochran) American Legion Post No. 40 in Ballard is named in his honor. (www.facebook.com/BallardPost40)