[hef19898]

Since there was minor dispute in Europe going at the time, one that went on from 1914 to 1918, it was not that Spanish Flu that was censored, it was all news in all beligerent countries that was censored concerning the war, including the flu.

But yes, that's how it got the name. Most likely, it started in the US, was carried to Europe by the US Army, spread across front lines on the Western Front, and from there across the globe.

[bozhark]

Didn’t it start in Kansas, US?

[AngryData]

That is the leading theory, but we don't have any real proof of it.

[jacquesm]

'minor'...

[hef19898]

Sarcasm doesn't work too well on the internet, does it?

The time from 1914 to, say, 1919 or so was really hell on earth.

[jacquesm]

Given that I recognize your account I should have known better. But yes, sarcasm is hard.

[hef19898]

On HN it does work surprisingly well! I might be wrong about that so...

[srean]

... and I thought you were in on it and joining in. Some horrors are so bad that save for those gifted with eloquence, sarcasm and humor is all that we have to deal with them.

[jacquesm]

I may be biased but I've visited grave sites from WWI and WWII and for some reason that seems to rule out humor around those subjects. There is something very special about standing on an immaculate war grave with thousands of little crosses in very neat rows each one of them the only evidence that someone died there to ensure that we would have our freedoms.

This is a complicated subject for me because I did not want to go into the army on account of not wanting to be someone else's pawn in wars of aggression, which NL has been on the wrong side of more than once. At the same time I absolutely recognize the requirement to defend countries against evil and I'm eternally grateful to those that made sure that we have a relatively free life here. Hard to square the two, I have always kept my balance in there by telling myself that if push came to shove I'd be more than willing to act. The Russian war on Ukraine is testing that position in complex ways.

[srean]

> I did not want to go into the army on account of not wanting to be someone else's pawn in wars of aggression

Sentiments mirrored. During my younger days I used to want to, not being part of the physical fight but a technological one. Then I saw exactly what you have put in words, how people's lives, there families lives, were used as "someone else's pawn" to feed their political ambitions.

Thanks for the sobering reminder.

[hef19898]

We visited Verdun this year, including Forts Vaux and Doaumont. The athmosphere, including the beautiful forest, around the battle fields is special. And outright spooky in the partially flooded forts.

Totally different from the D-Day beaches. The outright slaughter on WW1 battlefields is just incomprehinsible, and it shows at places like Verdun.