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James Andrew Cox
Agency patch
Lieutenant

James Andrew Cox

Cambridge Police Department — Cambridge, MA
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic → Illness
United States flag Massachusetts flag
End of Watch December 27, 1918
Age 47
Tour of Duty 22 yrs
The Vigil Panel 82 · Column 3 · Line 11 ›
Gender Male
Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Also Remembered Department 11

Incident

Lieutenant James Cox contracted influenza during the commission of his job duties while assigned to the ambulance unit. He was transported to the hospital where he died a week later due to pneumonia and influenza on December 27, 1918.

Lieutenant Cox served with the Cambridge Police Department for 22 years.

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Lieutenant James Andrew Cox died on December 27, 1918 of influenza contracted in the line of duty. He was 47.

He is one of 201 officers honored here, and one of 2 at Cambridge 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 sister.

In Our Keeping

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August 2, 2026
Last updated
August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

No vaccine, no antibiotics, and you stood the post anyway.
Lieutenant Cox gave the Cambridge Police Department 22 years.
Thank you for your service to the Cambridge community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Lieutenant Cox.

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

Agency

Department Cambridge Police Department
Type Police Department
Location Cambridge, Middlesex County, MA
Platform Identity cambpd.middlesex.ma.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch December 27, 1918
Tour of Duty 22 yrs
Age 47
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness
Cause Detail Influenza Pandemic

The Sacrifice · Illness

James 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.

  3. See the roll
  4. See the roll
Compare against
I

Time

In 1918, 226 officers in the United States were lost to illness, the 3rd heaviest of 108 years on record. The heaviest was 2021, with 564.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

James was 47. 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. James had served 22 years; the middle length of service was 20 years.

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

When

December holds 9.6% 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

Cambridge Police Department has 12 officers remembered here, James among them.

Across the years
VI

Where

Lieutenant James Andrew Cox

Cambridge Police Department · End of Watch December 27, 1918

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 30-WT

Also Remembered

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial — requiem.nw →

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