Prev Next
Police Officer

Joseph P. Simunek

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department — St. Louis, MO
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic → Illness
United States flag Missouri flag
End of Watch November 12, 1918
Age 29
The Vigil Panel 81 · Column 4 · Line 12 ›
Gender Male
Incident Service The Sacrifice Also Remembered Department 175

Incident

Police Officer Joseph Simunek died as a result of complications of Spanish Influenza due to an outbreak at the 7th Police District on Magnolia Avenue.

A week earlier, ten officers attached to the Police District were stricken at the same time. Officer Simunek, Officer Ude, and Officer Mandeville were the only officers that died due to the outbreak. All three officers died within 24 hours of each other. At the time of their deaths, the St. Louis Police Department was 175 officers short due to World War I and the Spanish Influenza.

Officer Simunek was survived by his father, sister, and brother.

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Police Officer Joseph P. Simunek died on November 12, 1918 of influenza contracted in the line of duty. He was 29.

He is one of 201 officers honored here, and one of 5 at St. Louis Metropolitan 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

Officer Simunek was survived by his father, sister, and brother.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
neuraspine_01krbxtp5rbx3cd68r9n4kfdcs
Stewardship
Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw
August 2, 2026
Last updated
August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

Are you family? This record can be claimed and maintained by those who knew Joseph. Claim this record.

Also honored at requiem.nw. One record, 2 gates. Joseph is one person.

This page is permanent and free. No fee to view it, no advertising, no tracking, and no account required. It will not be taken down.

Tributes

No vaccine, no antibiotics, and you stood the post anyway.
Police Officer Simunek served with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the St. Louis community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Simunek.

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

Agency

Department St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
Type Police Department
Location St. Louis, City of Saint Louis, MO
Platform Identity stlopd.saintlouis.mo.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 12, 1918
Age 29
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness
Cause Detail Influenza Pandemic

The Sacrifice · Illness

Joseph 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

Joseph was 29. 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.

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

When

November holds 7.8% of these deaths in the United States; October holds the most, 14.9%. Tuesdays: 13.3%.

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

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has at least 120 officers remembered here, Joseph among them.

Across the years
VI

Where

Police Officer Joseph P. Simunek

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department · End of Watch November 12, 1918

Where the Name Is Cut

Also Remembered

requiem.nw →

↑