On Memorial Day, the Entomology Society of America recognized the trained entomologists in the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, whose work improves the health and sanitary conditions of their personnel.
ESA noted that historically more soldiers have died from insects than from bombs or bullets.
According to the Armed Forces Pest Management Board, “Military medical entomology began in 1900 when Major Walter Reed and his colleagues demonstrated the transmission of yellow fever by mosquitoes and were subsequently able to reduce the impact of this disease on the U.S. military. From typhus in World War I, malaria in World War II, to leishmaniasis in Operation Iraqi Freedom, military medical entomologists have been called upon to protect the military mission.”