Of real benefit to humanity: William Gorgas, Havana 1898 and Edmund Morel, Antwerp 1898

In 1898, an Army medical doctor disembarked along with other troops onto the busy wharf at Havana, Cuba.  Thousands of miles away, across the ocean, a civilian shipping clerk disembarked onto the busy wharf at Antwerp, Belgium.  In 1898, neither man suspected what was ahead for him - comrades, foes, dangers, sacrifice, losses, set-backs, knowledge, triumph -  but each by their high personal diligence and great compassion, over the next decade and a half, they would do more to lead the liberation of humanity from death and destruction than any army in history had and by that, provide the means to improve the quality of life for generations to come.

William Gorgas's work would free millions from the deadly scourge of yellow fever, while Edmund Dene Morel's work would free millions of Congolese from the deadly scourge of King Leopold II.

Havana, endemic yellow fever port. U.S. Army Medical Corps Major Dr. William Gorgas arrives 1898

"of real benefit to humanity" Walter Reed's letter to William Gorgas 1902 : the conquest of yellow fever