As a part of my research into disability history in Nebraska, I decided to look at WWI, as wars are, in many ways, disabling events. I have yet to find in-depth information on any soldiers who returned home to Nebraska from the war disabled. But I did find myself looking more deeply into the lives of the 28 men from my home county who died in the war, some in battle, some in accidents, and some from influenza. Remnants of their stories are scattered in newspaper archives and historical sources like community books, letters, and vital records. I put together what I found into a presentation that lasts about an hour entitled “A Boy in Years, A Man in Deeds: Stories from researching WWI fatalities of Otoe County”. For booking information please email me: needleandbow@gmail.com

An invaluable resource for this topic, and the source that I started with, is a local community book published in 1920 entitled “In the World War 1917-1918-1919 Otoe County Nebraska” and a digital scan of the book can be viewed by clicking here.

I added photos from this book as well as the obituaries I could find to the men’s listings on the website Find A Grave:

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