Baller Family History: Frank Garski

Service Record

Who He Was

Frank Ignacy Stephan Garski was born on October 26, 1894, in St. Paul, Minnesota, into a Polish-American family that had settled in Ramsey County. He was one of at least eleven siblings, growing up in the immigrant communities of St. Paul at the turn of the twentieth century. St. Paul at that time was a city of working-class neighborhoods shaped by waves of Polish, Norwegian, German, and Irish arrivals — communities that sent a disproportionate share of their young men into uniform when America entered the First World War in April 1917.

Frank enlisted from St. Paul and was assigned to the Machine Gun Company of the 28th Infantry Regiment, part of the 1st Infantry Division — the oldest and most storied division in the American Army, known to history as the Big Red One. He served in the capacity of Mess Sergeant, responsible for feeding and sustaining the men of one of the most dangerous and isolated units on the Western Front. He rose to the rank of First Sergeant — the highest enlisted grade in a company — by the time of his discharge, almost certainly in recognition of the courage and leadership he demonstrated throughout his service.

Frank returned to St. Paul after the war and on August 8, 1923, married Angela Novalany, also of St. Paul and of Polish heritage. They built a life together and raised at least three daughters. Frank passed away on May 22, 1961, at the age of 66. He rests today at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, within a few miles of the city where he was born and lived his entire life.

Official Military Citation

Frank Garski was officially cited for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty in United States Army records, preserved in the Defense Technical Information Center. The citation reads in full:

The 28th Infantry — Black Lions of Cantigny

The 28th Infantry Regiment was one of the most battle-hardened units of the American Expeditionary Forces. As part of the 1st Infantry Division — the first American division to deploy to France — the regiment arrived on European soil in June 1917 and remained in the fight until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, and beyond, marching into Germany as part of the Army of Occupation.

The regiment earned its immortal nickname, the Black Lions of Cantigny, on May 28, 1918, when it attacked and captured the German-held village of Cantigny — America's first significant offensive operation of the entire war. That ferocity and resolve defined the regiment throughout the conflict, from the opening trenches of Lorraine to the final push toward Sedan.

The Machine Gun Company was one of the most critical and most dangerous assignments within the regiment. Machine gun positions were priority targets for German artillery and snipers, kept isolated and constantly relocating to avoid destruction. The men of the Machine Gun Company were often cut off from the main body of the regiment, fighting from concealed positions deep in contested terrain. Keeping them alive and fed was Frank Garski's mission.

The Role of a Mess Sergeant in Battle

To understand Frank's heroism, one must understand what a Mess Sergeant actually did under the conditions of the Western Front. This was not a kitchen assignment. In active battle, a Mess Sergeant's primary duty was to locate his unit — wherever it had moved, however far forward it had pushed, however deep into enemy-contested terrain — and deliver food and sustenance to keep the men fighting.

For a Machine Gun Company, this was uniquely dangerous. Machine gun crews did not hold static positions. They moved constantly, often at night, to avoid German counter-battery fire. Their locations were not communicated to support elements in advance. Frank Garski had to find them by searching — moving alone or with minimal support through shell-ravaged ground, gas-filled trenches, and open terrain under artillery fire — every single night.

The physical and psychological demands of this role were extraordinary. Moving through ground churned by years of artillery bombardment, past the debris of battle, often through darkness and gas, with enemy guns active overhead — and doing so reliably, night after night, never once failing — was a form of courage that the Army itself recognized as extraordinary. The citation's conclusion is unambiguous: his actions helped materially in the success of the operations.

Campaign Record

Based on his confirmed service with the Machine Gun Company, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, Frank Garski served through the following engagements, drawn from official U.S. Army operational records held by DTIC.

What this list represents is almost impossible to fully absorb. The 1st Division was America's first division in France and its last to leave. Frank Garski arrived on the Western Front in the fall of 1917 and did not return home until 1919 — serving through every significant engagement the American Expeditionary Forces fought on the Western Front, from the very first American offensive at Cantigny to the final push toward Sedan on the last days of the war. He was present at America's first battle. He was present at the turning point of the war at Soissons. He fought through the largest battle in American military history at the Meuse-Argonne. He then marched into Germany as a conqueror. Through all of it — the gas, the artillery, the mud, the dead — he survived. He came home. He married Angela. He raised daughters. He lived to 66. That is not a small thing. Statistically, it is extraordinary.

To put his survival in context: the 28th Infantry Regiment alone suffered its worst single-battle casualties at Soissons — 56 officers and 1,760 enlisted men in five days. The Meuse-Argonne offensive cost the 1st Division 1,790 killed and 7,126 wounded over the course of the campaign. Across the entirety of American involvement, over 116,000 U.S. servicemen died in the war. Frank Garski stood in the middle of all of it — not as a commander watching from the rear, but as a man moving alone through the dark and the artillery every single night — and he survived. He came home to St. Paul, married Angela Novalany, and built a family whose line reaches to this day.

Family & Legacy

Frank Garski came home to St. Paul carrying the experience of the entire American war on the Western Front. He returned to civilian life and, on August 8, 1923, married Angela Novalany — also of Polish heritage and St. Paul — at the age of 28. Together they raised at least three daughters. Among them was Leona Garski, who married Victor Baller. Their son, James Baller, is the father of Nathan Baller — making Frank Garski Nathan's great-grandfather on his father's side.

Frank passed away on May 22, 1961, at the age of 66, and was buried with full military honors at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in the Twin Cities — the same ground where Minnesota's soldiers have been honored since the Civil War, and just a few miles from the St. Paul neighborhood where he had been born sixty-six years before.

He left behind no public monument, no civic recognition, no newspaper profile. What he left behind was the documented fact — preserved now in official U.S. Army records — that on the nights of one of the most decisive battles of the First World War, one man from St. Paul walked out alone into the artillery fire, found his soldiers in the dark, and made sure they had the strength to keep fighting. The Army's own words say it plainly: his courage helped materially in the success of the operations.

He was 23 years old at Soissons. He was a First Sergeant before he came home. He was a husband, a father, and a great-grandfather. His line continues.

The Direct Line