Legionnaires' disease on symptom onset dates from past outbreaks. In this way, the eventual likely size of an outbreak can be predicted, enabling efficient and effective use of public health resources in managing an outbreak. The first recognized cases of Legionnaires' disease occurred in 1976 in Philadelphia; among more than 2000 attendees of an American Legion convention held at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, 182 attendees contracted the disease and 29 of them died. In April 1985, 175 people in Stafford, England, were admitted to the District or Kingsmead Stafford Hospitals with chest infection or pneumonia. A total of 28 people died. Medical diagnosis
American Legion Veterans of the Korean War were approved for membership in The American Legion in 1950, and The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation was formed in 1954. On May 30, 1969, the Cabin John Bridge, which carried the Capital Beltway (I-495) across the Potomac River northwest of Washington, was officially renamed to the "American Legion Memorial Bridge" in a ceremony led by Lt. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, director of the U.S. Selective Service System. In 1976, an outbreak of bacterial pneumonia occurred in a convention of The American Legion at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This pneumonia killed 34 people