Unknown Soldiers

Victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918, ten soldiers died and were buried here without identity.  During World War I, troop trains ran regularly through Montello.  As soldiers became ill en route, they were unloaded at the nearest hospitals.  The Southern Pacific Railroad kept a doctor at Montello who checked every train en route.  III passengers were treated in a makeshift hospital at the town’s hotel.

The graves were unmarked for years but through the persistent efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Kimber of Montello, and the 40 & 8 of Las Vegas, the previously unmarked graves, although still unidentified as to name, were marked in 1975.

Unfortunately, fires had destroyed the original government records, making identification impossible.

STATE HISTORICAL MARKER No. 73

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE

S.D. PETERS