Frederick E. Ballard was born on June 6, 1894 in Vermont. He was the son of Edgar A. Ballard and Jessie Emogene Lindsley Ballard. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Private in Company C, 102nd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Infantry Division. He was declared "Missing in Action" on September 26, 1918 and is commemorated on Tablets of the Missing, St. Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, France. There's a memorial marker of him in a family pot at Pleasant View Cemetery, Ludlow, VT. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company C, 102d Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division, A.E.F., near Marcheville, France, September 26, 1918. Private Ballard displayed remarkable courage and coolness during this engagement. When apparently trapped in an enemy trench near a machine gun emplacement, he worked his way out under the wire entanglement in plain view of the enemy, and, returning with hand grenades, assisted in bombing out the machine gun nest and capturing some of the men who were defending it. Later he accompanied a detachment and assisted in mopping up the town, driving out the enemy, and taking several prisoners. While thus engaged he was struck by an exploding shell and killed. General Orders No. 21, War Department, 1919.