PFC Michael Malko

courtesy of Doc Wilson

We do not know where PFC Michael Malko was born but he was drafted or enlisted in Passaic, New Jersey in 1918. 

Michael apparently shipped out for France from Hoboken, New Jersey in August 1918 aboard the USAT San Jacinto.  His next of kin or emergency contact was given as John Andrew Kofski of 194 Monrose Street, Passaic, New Jersey.  He was likely assigned to I Company 116th Infantry as a replacement sometime after that.  He survived combat only to die of an accidental gun shot from a pistol on 17 May 1919. 

Repatriated aboard the USAT Mercury in 1920, PFC Malko is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Although his unit is given as I Company 116th Infantry on the USAT Mercury manifest his unit is given as I Company 16th Infantry 1st Division on the internment record for Arlington. Since he did not go home with the 116th on 11 May he may have been reassigned perhaps because he enlisted in the regular army.