In memory of

Beldon W. DeGroff

Patrolman · New York City Police Department

Died on November 17, 1918, aged 34.

United States of America

His life

Patrolman Beldon DeGroff died as a result of complications of influenza while in the performance of his assigned duties during the Influenza Pandemic.

In August 1918, the first cases of influenza were reported in New York City, resulting in fewer than 31,600 deaths from the fall of 1918 until the final fourth wave in April 1920. The New York City Police Department's response to the pandemic was to enforce the health laws, including wearing masks and restricting large gatherings at churches, schools, theatres, and patrolling hot spots and quarantine zones.

Patrolman DeGroff served with the New York City Police Department for 12 years.

Survived by

He was survived by his wife, infant daughter, parents, and sister.

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

January 1, 1918

The influenza of 1918 came in waves, the worst of them in the autumn of that year, and it killed the young and strong as readily as the old. Before it was over it had killed more people than the First World War.

Police officers worked it without vaccines, without antibiotics and often without masks: enforcing quarantines, carrying the sick, standing posts in cities where the dead outpaced the undertakers. They caught it doing the job, and there was no treatment to give them.

They are the first named here.

Everyone taken by The 1918 Influenza Pandemic →

Media

Beldon W. DeGroff
Beldon W. DeGroff 0 Views JPG 31 KB

No monument carrying this name is recorded yet.

Everything Beldon W. DeGroff is tied to in the record. Scroll to zoom, drag to move, click a face or a label to open it.

No family is recorded with him yet.

What people have said

Nobody else has said anything for Beldon W. DeGroff yet.

↑