SPEC.RARE.2015.0021: Purchase, 2015 April
[identification of item], E. Hedrick Diary Kept While Serving in the United States Army During World War I Demobilization, SPEC.RARE.MMS.0342, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Beth Crowner, 2019 April; Finding aid written by: Beth Crowner, 2019 April
Private E. Hedrick served during World War I in the United States Army. Hedrick was transferred to Raymond, Washington to be discharged on April 30, 1918. He spent the next 19 months stationed at different bases in the United States, including Lake Pleasant and the Vancouver barracks in Washington state, Camp Dodge in Iowa, and the Grand Island base in Nebraska. World War I was declared over on November 11, 1918, and the United States entered a period of demobilization. At one point in his discharge process, Hedrick was possibly exposed to the Spanish Flu. The epidemic was first discovered in Haskell County, Kansas in January 1918, and by March had begun spreading through troop deployments in the United States.
The E. Hedrick Diary Kept While Serving in the United States Army During World War I Demobilization is a personal diary kept daily by United States Army Private E. Hedrick while stationed in various locations in the United States just following World War I. The diary dates from December 5, 1918, to November 19, 1919. Hedrick logs activities such as meals, duties, visitors, medical checks, and other records of day-to-day military life, many of which relate to demobilization of the country after WWI. A detached diary page lists an overview of all the places he was stationed, including Washington state, Iowa, and Nebraska, from 1918-1919. A quarantine slip from July 7, 1918 is also included. The slip, along with mention of throat checks and other medical exams in the diary, indicate Hedrick and other military personnel may have been exposed to Spanish Flu, which was an epidemic among troops at the time.