Private Albert Tony Sturgleski, Killed in Action, 1918.

On this page, I’ll periodically include some information about some of the forgotten young American men who lost their lives in the First World War. All of them are listed, many with a photograph, in a three-volume set entitled Soldiers of the Great War.

Among them was Private Albert Tony Sturgleski of Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota. His death was noted in the November 21, 1918, issue of the Askov (Minn.) American.

I was unable to locate Private Sturgleski’s grave or next of kin. He is not listed in the databases of the Deparment of Veterans Affairs or the American Battle Monuments Commission.

St. Isidore’s Catholic Cemetery in Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota, is the final resting place of John T. Sturgeleski  (1857-1939) and Mary Sturgeleski (1870-1951). Despite the slightly different spelling of the last name, it seems likely that these were Albert’s relatives, quite likely his parents.

All I know for certain, almost a century later, is that Albert was an American boy, born around the turn of the last century, who answered his country’s call and went to war.  He probably never went to college, never married, never had a trade or profession, and never had children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren.  He was just a young man sent by older men to war started by even older men on another continent.