Valentine “Val” Garncarz was born on 22 October 1924, in LaSalle, Illinois, the second son of Valentine F. and Belanda (Murawski) Garncarz. At the time of Valentine’s birth, his parents were living at 1107 Fifth Street in Peru with their two older children, Theresa and Anthony. Valentine’s father and namesake worked as a clerk for the railroad.
In 1926, when Val was three years old, his grandfather John Garncarz passed away. In the wake of that loss, the family moved in with John’s widow, Mary, at 608 Plain Street in Peru. In 1931, Valentine’s sister Mary was born.
As a boy, Val attended St. Valentine’s Parochial School in Peru, a fitting institution for a child who shared its patron’s name. By 1940, his father had advanced to the position of baggage man with the railroad, and the household on Plain Street—Val, his parents, his siblings, and his paternal grandmother—continued on together through the years of the Great Depression.
Val came of age at LaSalle-Peru Township High School, where he participated in Student Council during his senior year and showed a particular interest in geography. He graduated in 1942—the same year the United States was fully drawn into the Second World War. Four days before Christmas that year, he registered for the draft. At the time he was employed as a machinist at the Rock Island Arsenal. By every measure, Val was a young man in his prime: tall at 6 feet 2 inches, weighing 184 pounds, with blue eyes and blonde hair.
The Garncarz brothers would serve their country together, if apart. Anthony enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1943. The following month, on 29 March 1943, Val enlisted in Peoria, Illinois, and was assigned service number 36479149. He completed basic training at Camp Robinson in Arkansas.
After an eight-day furlough home in July, likely the last time his family would see him, Val was sent first to Pennsylvania, then across the Atlantic to North Africa, where he arrived on 3 September 1943. Later that month he was assigned to Company M of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.
The 36th Division, a Texas National Guard unit, had landed at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943 and was pushing northward through brutal terrain against a determined German defense. By December, Val’s unit was positioned near the village of San Pietro Infine—a hilltop stronghold that the Germans had fortified with machine gun nests, pillboxes, mines, and interlocking fields of fire.
On 8 December 1943, the 143rd Infantry attacked San Pietro. The regiment faced withering mortar and artillery fire from entrenched German positions as it fought its way into and through the village. The battle was fierce and costly, but the Allies ultimately captured San Pietro, opening the Liri Valley to the advance on Rome.
PVT Valentine Garncarz did not survive the assault. He was reported missing in action during the attack and was declared killed in action the following day, 9 December 1943, having been struck by a bullet to the thorax. He was nineteen years old.
Val was initially buried in a temporary military cemetery in Italy. After the war, his remains were returned to the Illinois Valley. He was laid to rest at St. Valentine’s Cemetery in Spring Valley. His pallbearers were all veterans of both the Army and Navy.
PVT Valentine Garncarz was posthumously entitled to the following medals: American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
His brother Anthony served in the European Theater with the Signal Corps and was discharged on 27 October 1945, returning to the home on Plain Street that Val would never see again.
- SBTSProject/Iowa/Scott
- SBTS Historian: Pam Broviak
- Sources:
- 1930 U.S. Census, Valentine Garncarz, Ancestry.
- 1940, U.S. Census, Mary Garncarz, Ancestry.
- Illinois, U.S., Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947, John Garncary, Ancestry.
- U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016, LaSalle-PeruTownship High School, 1942, Valentine Garncarz, p. 50, Ancestry.
- U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, LaSalle, Illinois, 1924, Valentine Garncarz, Ancestry.
- U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, LaSalle, Illinois, 1926, Valentine Garncarz, Ancestry.
- U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, Valentine Aloysius Garncarz, Ancestry.
- U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, Valentine A. Garncarz, Ancestry.
- U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, Anthony A Garncarz, Ancestry.
- “Pvt. Val Garncarcz is Killed in Italy,” The Daily Post Tribune, LaSalle, Illinois, Stars and Stripes Honor Edition, 25 March 1944, p. 5, col. 5.
- Record Group 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Series: Morning Reports, Morning Reports for August 1943: Roll 3 (2 of 2), image 229 of 534, NARA.
- Record Group 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Series: Morning Reports, Morning Reports for September 1943: Roll 591 (4 of 4), image 242 of 797, NARA.
- Record Group 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Series: Morning Reports, Morning Reports for December 1943: Roll 692 (2 of 4), images 944, 958, and 962 of 1000, NARA.
- “Invasion of Italy,” Texas Military Forces Museum 143ard Infantry Regiment Summary History.
- U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861-1985, Valentine A Garncarz, Ancestry.
- US, WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954, Valentine A Garncarz, Fold3.
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71006002/valentine-a.-garncarz
