Roll of Honor
Incident
Patrolman Emerson Glotfelter died as a result of contracting influenza while in the performance of his assigned duties of enforcing health orders and operating ambulances during the Influenza Pandemic in Dayton.
Dayton City Police Officers had been ordered to close saloons that violated health orders, man ambulances, keep crowds from gathering, and remove corpses. More than 700 citizens died from Spanish Influenza between October 1918 and January 1919. As a result of stopping the spread of the flu and maintaining order in the city of Dayton, many members of the Dayton City Police Department became ill with the flu, and six officers died.
Patrolman Glotfelter served with the Dayton Police Department for only four months.
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic
Patrolman Emerson A. Glotfelter died on December 7, 1918 of influenza contracted in the line of duty. He was 24.
He is one of 201 officers honored here.
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.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-OH-A1178F82- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
No vaccine, no antibiotics, and you stood the post anyway.
Patrolman Glotfelter served with the Dayton Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the Dayton community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman Glotfelter.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Patrolman Emerson A. Glotfelter is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In OH, 49 of 991 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 4.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.2 percentage points below the national rate of 9.1%.
At Dayton Police Department, 7 of 31 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 22.6% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Emerson A. Glotfelter's cause is highlighted.
How Emerson A. Glotfelter Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Emerson A. Glotfelter is highlighted in Dec.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
30 officers from Dayton Police Department are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
