A.Vandan
(1897-1918)
A. Vandan
Location of Plaque 2015
Soldiers at Camp Sherman
FURNACE NO. 4, LOOKING NORTH. - Corrigan-McKinney Steel Company, 3100 East Forty-fifth Street, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH
Parrish and Bingham Company, Cleveland, OH, where Alfred J. Vandas, Sr. (father) worked
Harvard Grove Cemetery sign, Cleveland, OH
Section 11 at Harvard Grove Cemetery, where the cemetery record indicates Alfred John Vandas, Jr. and family are buried (grave not found)
Alfred John Vandas, Jr.
(surname misspelled on the plaque)
Birth: 4/8/1897; Cleveland, OH
Address: 3165 E. 45th St., Cleveland, OH
Demographics: age 21 at draft registration; native born Clevelander; single; Caucasian; employed at McKinney Steel Co. at 4002 Dille Ave., Cleveland, OH (previously Corrigan-McKinney Steel Co., once one of the outstanding steel companies in America, established in 1890, strategically located along the Cuyahoga River, and acquired by Republic Steel in 1935); his place of employment was a 10 minute walk from his home
Appearance: Height medium; Build medium; Eyes light brown; Hair black
Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/5/1918; enlisted 9/5/1918; Private
Service Number: 3861671
Deployment: Died prior to deployment
Action: 15 Co 4 Tng Bn 158 Dep Brig to death. Pvt. Died of broncho-pneumonia Oct 12/18
Death: Died at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, OH, on October 12, 1918 at age 21 of broncho-pneumonia (common term at that time for influenza; may have been a victim of the 1918-1920 flu pandemic?)
Burial: Harvard Grove Cemetery, 6100 Lansing Ave., Cleveland, OH, Section 11, Lot 5 N 1/2, Tier 1, Grave 3W; no grave photo available online; no gravestone found during visit to cemetery in 2023
Next of Kin: Fannie Vandas, mother, 3165 E. 45th St., SE., Cleveland, OH
Additional Information: grandparents were from Czech Republic on father's side and Germany on mother's side; Alfred J. Vandas, Jr. appears to have been an only child; father Alfred John Vandas, Sr. (1874-1921), born Cleveland, OH, occupation Tinsmith at Parrish and Bingham Company at Madison Ave. and W. 106th St., Cleveland, OH; father was drafted for World War I on 9/12/1918, exactly 2 months after his son died at Camp Sherman, but does not appear to have served; father died 1921 at age 47; mother Fannie Haessler Vandas (1876-1942) remarried in 1924 to Peter Celich; mother Fannie Celich was buried in Harvard Grove Cemetery alongside her first husband, her only child and her first husband's parents; more than 123,000 World War I officers and enlisted men trained at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, OH in 1917-1918; Camp Sherman had the highest influenza death rate of any military installation with 7,618 soldiers admitted to the hospital and 842 deaths; 125 soldiers died at Camp Sherman on 10/8/1918 on the camp's deadliest day