Edward Joseph McCaffrey
Agency patch
Sergeant

Edward Joseph McCaffrey

Philadelphia Police Department — Philadelphia, PA
End of Watch March 14, 1919
Age 39
Tour of Duty 16 yrs 8 mo
Gender Male

Incident

Sergeant Edward McCaffrey died as a result of complications from influenza while performing his assigned duties during the Influenza Pandemic.

Due to the devastation of the Influenza Epidemic, Philadelphia Police districts were used as makeshift hospitals. Police officers were ordered to fill and deliver prescriptions, act as pallbearers of victims, placard homes, collect victims' bodies from their homes, assist doctors and health officers, and ensure that establishments were closed and following guidelines to stop the spread of the flu.

Sergeant McCaffrey served with the Philadelphia Police Department for less than 17 years and was assigned to the 10th Police District, located at North Front Street and Master Street.

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Sergeant Edward Joseph McCaffrey died on March 14, 1919 of influenza contracted in the line of duty. He was 39.

He is one of 201 officers honored here, and one of 45 at Philadelphia Police Department.

The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people worldwide than the war that preceded it. Police officers worked it without vaccines, without antibiotics, and often without masks, enforcing quarantines, transporting the sick, and standing posts in cities where the dead outpaced the undertakers.

They caught it doing the job. There was no treatment to give them.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and four children.

In Our Keeping

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Stewardship
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Added to badge.nw
August 2, 2026
Last updated
August 2, 2026

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Tributes

No vaccine, no antibiotics, and you stood the post anyway.
Sergeant McCaffrey gave the Philadelphia Police Department 16 years.
Thank you for your service to the Philadelphia community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant McCaffrey.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Type Police Department
Location Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA
Platform Identity ppd.philadelphia.pa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch March 14, 1919
Tour of Duty 16 yrs 8 mo
Age 39
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness
Cause Detail Influenza Pandemic

The Sacrifice · Illness

Edward is one of 2,028 officers lost to illness in the United States, 7.4% of the 27,552 remembered there.

34,103 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

  1. See the roll
  2. See the roll
Compare against
I

Time

In 1919, 32 officers in the United States were lost to illness, the 11th heaviest of 108 years on record. The heaviest was 2021, with 564.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

Edward was 39. Of the 1,996 lost to illness in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 42 and 58; the middle age was 51. Edward had served 16.6 years; the middle length of service was 20 years.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

March holds 5.9% of these deaths in the United States; October holds the most, 14.9%. Fridays: 14.8%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Illness deaths account for 7.4% of all 27,552 deaths in the United States, the 3rd most common cause.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

Philadelphia Police Department has at least 120 officers remembered here, Edward among them.

Across the years
VI

Where

Sergeant Edward Joseph McCaffrey

Philadelphia Police Department · End of Watch March 14, 1919

Where the Name Is Cut

Also Remembered

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