Elmer Peden was the first soldier to die in uniform from the Gary community during WW I. He was stationed at Camp Funston at Fort Riley in Kansas and died there from the flue epidemic (meningitis) that took so many lives. This Flu Pandemic was one of the worst in recorded history and started in the continental United States.
John Cole was the first Gary soldier to die in uniform during WW II, so the Gary, SD Legion organization was named Peden-Cole Post 109.
~ Gary Interstate, July 2015
