US Army Captain Frank Rutherford Marston was born in Pensacola, Florida on January 1, 1893, the son of Frank Marston (1859-1918) and Sallie Ferguson (1868-1949). His father was born in Ripon, England, and left Liverpool in 1870 to immigrate to Pensacola. He would marry Sallie Anne Ferguson in 1890 and would support his family as the proprietor of a furniture store. He began his furniture business as early as 1893 with Frank O. Fitton at 40 South Palafox Street. In 1902, he joined in partnership with Edward Gale Quina to create the Marston-Quina Furniture Store that was eventually located at 108 South Palafox Street. The Marston family home was established at 1705 North 12th Avenue and still stands today. In the meantime, Frank and his sister Florence would graduate from Pensacola High School in 1911 and 1909 respectively. Frank was then admitted to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis on August 24, 1912, at the age of 19 but would resign on June 8, 1915.
At the outbreak of World War I, Frank was called into the US Army on June 5, 1917, and assigned to Company "E" of the 30th Infantry Regiment attached to the 3rd Infantry Division. His brother Oliver Ferguson Marston (1895-1974) would follow him into the Army and would become a decorated soldier of both WWI and WWII. After 29-years in the Army, Oliver would retire before passing away in 1974 and his subsequent burial in Arlington Cemetery.
In 1918, Frank's regiment was assigned to the 6th Infantry Brigade as they departed Camp Merritt, New Jersey on March 3rd. They set sail for Liverpool, England and arrived in France on April 4, 1918. On May 30th, the Regiment was placed on the front line of the Marne River. For the next six weeks they improved their defensive positions and conducted information gathering patrols across the river. But on July 14th, the horror of the second battle of the Marne began. At midnight, a tremendous German bombardment commenced on their position. At 4:00 AM on the 15th, German forces crossed the Marne River on a pontoon bridge and canvas boats. The Regiment hunkered down in their bunkers with the Germans totally shocked that anyone had lived through the artillery fire. But the moment the Germans crossed the Marne River they were struck with a deadly fire from the entire Regiment. The advancing Germans were attacked from all sides, with large groups of them killed or captured. The enemy were so bewildered at the intensity of the American fire that by 7:00 AM most of the fighting was over in the Regiment's sector. Sadly, the Regiment's losses were very heavy, not from the infantry attack, but from the bombardment.
The casualties sustained by the Regiment for the Champagne-Marne Defensive were 25 officers and 1,400 men. One of those men was newly promoted Captain Frank Rutherford Marston of Pensacola, Florida. His body was recovered and buried in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France. Back home his parents had received a letter from him about his promotion to captain only hours before the War Department's news of their son's death reached them.
And to make matters even worse, his father was gravely ill at the time and the news of his son's death was withheld from him by the family. He would pass away two months later and was buried in St. John's Cemetery. As Pensacola's first casualty of the war, the Post of the American Legion was named in his honor as was the park on the west side of Alcaniz Street just south of Wright Street.
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