[FredZarguna]

You're simply wrong. Civilians were exposed to all these diseases, especially polio. And they did kill people. It wasn't just people who travelled who got them. Two people in my mother's family died from polio. My Dad's mother was paralyzed by it. None of them ever left Southeastern Pennsylvania until my Dad went to war. People over a certain age know the ravages caused by these diseases, and too many younger people feel that the immunizations aren't necessary because they've lived during a danger-free period.

[Texan5]

I was not talking about polio-which was not considered completely eradicated in some areas of the US until the late 70’s-I’m pretty sure everyone is well acquainted with the effects of that disease-and we certainly can’t equate it with measles-they are apples and oranges.

I was talking about things like diphtheria, typhoid, yellow fever-already eradicated in the US-and a host of tropical diseases we never had here. There are/were military bases all over the world, and if you were going to one of them in a country where those diseases still infected people, you most assuredly would be exposed.

No civilian would unless they were going to that country for a stay-a civilian in the US had just about zero chance of exposure to that stuff unless they were exposed abroad.