Heinrich (Henry) W. Hellmann was the oldest of five children in the Hellmann family. He resided at the family farm near Hamel, Illinois and attended the Lutheran and later the Gehlenbeck schools in Hamel. Henry joined the Army on August 28, 1918 and was assigned to the Medical Department at Camp Custer in Michigan. He contracted Spanish Influenza and died after a brief illness at the Camp Custer base hospital. His mother, Mrs. Emma Hellmann, upon hearing of Henry's serious condition, went to be with him for his last days. When she returned home, she was met with a telegram that spoke of her other son, Mess Sergeant August H. Hellmann, had also died of Spanish Influenza on the very same day as Henry. Their father had passed away a number of years before and in his will arranged that the family move into a new home that was constucted in Worden after his death. This they did six years before the tragedy befell the Hellmann family. Surviving are his mother Mrs. Emma Hellmann, four brothers, Adolph, Reinhard, Gustave and Oscar and a sister, Augusta. The Hellmann brothers are buried together in a single grave in the Lutheran Cemetery near Hamel. Private Heinrich (Henry) W. Hellmann was 25 years, 5 months and 16 days of age.
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