Arthur S. Nicklar is a man who has some mystery as to his actual name and who he was. The article in the paper which was right above the article
about Eugene Breen reads:

Arthur Nicholas Dies at Camp Dix from Spanish Influenza September 30, 1918.

The article states that the local draft board has a Arthur Nicholas from Hackensack, but the people of Hackensack seemed to think the only man with a similar name that they knew was at Camp Dix at the time was a “colored” man 24 years old named Arthur S. Nicklar.

To confuse this more, I received material from a Jim Wrocklage who
corrects and updates memorials around Bergen County for the past 25 years. He spelled the name Arthur S. Nickles and he has his date he died as
September 26, 1918.

I am going to give you my opinion from the information we have as to what is correct. I believe the man was Arthur S. Nicklar, the “colored” man as they mentioned in the article, as the only man at Camp Dix from Hackensack at that time. Nicklar is an odd spelling and that is how it is written on the three plaques in Hackensack and the one I believe at
City Hall, which was dedicated shortly after the war when people would have been most accurate. Another thought to keep in mind was that Eugene Breen's mother and sister came to Camp Dix to be with Eugene Breen when they had found out he was ill. Being at the Camp, I would think they would have gotten word of the other boys death and would have brought that information back to the people who made the plaque after the war.
The date which Jim Wrocklage gives coincides perfectly with the man's death when the article appeared in the paper only four days later. People sometimes assume the way names should be spelled and there are many spelling errors all the time in the newspaper.

What strikes me is with all the prejudice of the day there was this sense in the news article that a Hackensack young man had died and they wanted to honor him if he was one of ours, whether he was colored or not. The town's people did just that on the plaque at the library. All names are listed together in alphabetical order, with no segregation or mention of color at all on the list.

Written by:
Bob Meli
June 15, 2009

The background image is a photo of the ward at Camp Funston obtained from:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/spanish_flu_mystery_why_don_t_scientists_understand_the_1918_flu_even_after.html

Plaques and Tablets

Spanish Flu Map