Ira Schantz, 1894-1918

On this Memorial Day weekend, I am thinking of my great-uncle, Ira Schantz, brother of Wilbur Schantz. Ira was drafted into World War I and went off to serve with 160 other young men from Washington County, Iowa in July, 1918. At the time of his training and deployment, there was a world wide resurgence of the “Spanish Flu”, especially in the army bases with close quarters for the virus to spread.

Ira died shortly after arriving in Europe at Brest, France on October 7, 1918. He was 24 years old. The pandemic took as many U.S. soldiers’ lives as the Great War. The local newspaper shared the notice of Ira’s death and commented on the additional deaths of the local boys. (Washington Democrat,12 Nov 1918, p1). A count in the commemorative book Washington County in the World War shows 25 of the 40 men killed from Washington County during the Great War died of the flu. Ira was originally buried in France but was brought home to Iowa where he is buried in Eicher Cemetery.

For a much more detailed article about Ira’s life and passing, you can find the full article here titled “My Great Uncle, Private Ira Schantz 1894-1918.” This article was also published in Mennonite Family History, Vol XLII, No 3, July 2023, pp 148-155.

This post originally appeared in Facebook, Related to Renee on 29 May 2021.