During World War I, the state contributed 91,623 men to the armed forces, many of whom participated in the Somme, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Forest campaigns. Most of the Virginia troops fought with the 80th Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. This division was called the Blue Ridge Division because the Blue Ridge Mountains are located in the home states of the men from Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania who made up this division. Noted for their bravery, this division was the only division to enter the front lines three times during the offensive and the only one to advance a maximum distance of twenty-two miles against the enemy between the first offensive and the Armistice. Many members of the 29th Infantry Division were Virginians who served in France, particularly during the Meuse-Argonne Forest campaigns. Thirty-six Virginians received the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States Army, the French Legion of Honor or the Croix de Guerre. On the home-front, World War I caused a tremendous increase in business and, in some instances, prompted the construction of war camps in various parts of the state. Camp Lee, near Petersburg, was used as an infantry training base for 50,000 soldiers; Camp Stuart at Newport News was used chiefly as an embarkation point and Camp Humphreys, near Alexandria, was used as a training center for engineers. Langley Field, near Hampton, was used as training grounds for pilots; the Hampton Roads area was utilized for construction of numerous United States ships and as naval and military bases. The present city of Hopewell actually owes its city status and growth to World War I and the construction of a huge munitions plant on Hopewell Farm by the E. I. DuPont de Nemours Company. As a matter of fact, the manufacture of fertilizer from nitrogen in the air still accounts for the great industrial activity at Hopewell at the present time. During World War I also, the famous Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond manufactured projectiles, explosives, shrapnel shells and other war materials of necessity. Among prominent Virginians who played a major role during World War I was Admiral David Watson Taylor. Admiral Taylor was chief of the Naval Bureau of Construction and Repair (1914-1922) at Washington. He had responsibility for the design and construction of naval aircraft and he developed a type of flying boat during World War I. His contributions were later acknowledged by the establishment of the David Taylor Model Basin, a naval activity at Carteret, Maryland, near the Virginia border. Health, too, was a critical problem on the home front during the war. For example, a dreadful influenza epidemic occurred followed by a severe fuel shortage due to a railroad strike. This condition caused many "flu" patients to develop pneumonia and to die. In Richmond alone, approximately eight hundred people succumbed during this epidemic period.