From parade to pandemic: Museum looks at 1918’s deadly flu

On Sept. 28, 1918, in the waning days of the First World War, more than 200,000 people gathered along Broad Street in Philadelphia for a parade meant to raise funds for the war effort. Among the patriotic throngs cheering for troops and floats was an invisible threat, which would be more dangerous to soldiers and civilians than any foreign enemy: the influenza virus.