The 50th anniversary of D day leads me to ask a timely question. Many American men began smoking while serving in the armed forces in World War II. The Red Cross even distributed free cigarettes to the troops. Most of these men became addicted to cigarettes, smoked throughout their lives, and now many have died of smoking-related illnesses. I wonder if more men have died from smoking connected with their World War II service than died as battle casualties in that war? –Bill Phillips, Seattle
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Cecil originally had the idea he could turn up the answer to this excellent question with five minutes of rummaging in the Straight Dope archives, enabling him to achieve one of his life’s dreams: a timely question that actually got a more or less timely response. When I got to the vault, however, I discovered that the carpenter ants had made mincemeat of the papyrus. Not a problem, I blithely thought. I’ll merely tap into the nation’s vast biomedical data apparatus, which consisted of calling everybody I could think of who could possibly know about this. Just to impress you with the thoroughness with which we at the Straight Dope pursue these things, I will tell you that I called the National Cancer Institute, the American Lung Association, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Cancer Society, the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and the federal Office of Smoking and Health. Result: nothing, although if I were younger and lived in the 404 area code I might have asked the woman at the OSH for a date. One researcher I spoke to did venture that smoking-related deaths among World War II vets could probably be computed, but it would take six months. Plenty fast if you’re funded by the government, I thought, but I’m on deadline.
