Still they go on.

[**The following takes place during the height of the Spanish Influenza pandemic in 1918.**] >Hundreds of nameless heroes emerged during the epidemic in Massachusetts. Selflessly, with a professional’s knowledge of the certain danger, doctors and nurses risked their own lives to relieve the suffering of the desperately ill. Without effective means to cure the deadly influenza, the medical community exhausted itself doing what they could. Their ranks were steadily depleted by the very disease that they were fighting. >[Henry Endicott](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Henry_Bradford_Endicott_circa_1915.jpg), manager of the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety, expressed the official view: >*The doctors and nurses of Massachusetts who are devoting themselves to the care of the sick in this emergency are all heroes and heroines and many of them have paid the penalty. Not one of them of whom I know has shirked, in any way; they are overworked, they are without sleep, and still they go on. Massachusetts can never repay its debt to this noble band of men and women.* ___________________________ **Source:** Pletcher, Larry. “The Spanish Influenza.” *Massachusetts Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival*. Insiders Guide, 2006. 92-3. Print. ___________________________ **Further Reading:** [Henry Bradford Endicott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bradford_Endicott) [1918 Flu Pandemic / Spanish Flu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic) ___________________________ **If you enjoy this type of content, please consider donating to my [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/HistoryLockeBox)!**