first i am a vet (navy uss sunbird asr15) serviceing from june 1975 to 1979. my mom dad didn,t make a go of it. I was about two at the time. because of the anger between the two, i was not allowed to have any contack with dad,s side of the family. until after my kids were born. than it was very limited. in all this its not my fathers falted . in the late 80's i found out that my grandfather serviced in ww1 on a tin can on convoy duty in north alantic . not until my father,s death three weeks ago. i did know he had serviced in ww2. in italy in the 539th ponton bridge co. i think its light ponton with what info i have . 538th light ponton co. seams to be the last co. i can find may be typo but it is all i have as you can see my spelling and grammer is not very good sorry to the teathers . i carry my great grandfarher,s name i am the 4 to carry the name. i want thank everone that gave there all but i would like to thank all who came home because if not i would be under hitlers and tojo rule i have been useing the net over 10 years this is may very post on any board first time a joined a board, i just read , took me a few days to fig. out how to wright a message. if anyone that needs someone to read anything for reach willling to help. Charles H Ellicott th4 (sonny)
A warm welcome to you Charles. Happy to have you here and delighted that our forum is the first you've ever tried. Once you get the hang of it, it will be a piece of cake. Remember, if you ever need help, try our HELP section. It should contain most everything you need to post. If not, leave a message in the help section and one of us will jump in to assist. 
I will be more than happy to look into 539th and see what I can come up with. It will probably be a couple of days because I am going away for the weekend.
Unfortunately your story keeps occuring again and again. Not knowing, not finding out until it's too late. You'd be surprised how many times I have heard this. Very sad. 
Hope you find our site helpful and once again welcome. 
Charles, Chuck, Sonny( let us know which you prefer.
Being kept ignorant of your DAD's side of the family is a great loss to you but, you know, everything you find out now will be like doors in all directions opening up . And guess what; on your very first try at jumping into a board site, you hit the jackpot. You are going to find that the people you meet are 100%. Not a phony in a carload.
What I want to say is that on your first try you have picked the site/forum with a big heart. As you get in deeper you will find a ton of friends that will lift you up and carry you from one day to the next.
Finally; Believe Marion when she promices to find the info you need, she means it.
The wizzard will NOT let you down. Believe me.
Again, Welcome; You are among friends.
Chucktoo
P.S. May I add one thing that should cheer you up. DON"T WORRY about making "MISTEAKS" on this forum. Papa Art & I are specialists at it. Between the two of us we manage to keep Marion frazzled most of the time, and she hasn't kicked us out yet?? Welcome aboard "Charley". There; That oughta get u going.
Placed here for Rocky by Marion
Hello CHARLES H. ELLICOTT!! Welcome aboard, hope
you enjoy it here with us. May your generation make
this a better world, our generation just started the
ball rolling. WWII. Rocky
Welcome to the site Charles. Take a look around and stay in touch with us.
Regards,
Frank
Went through my engineering books and so far I haven't come upon anything, but will keep looking.
In the meantime you should contact Michael Brodhead of the History Dept at the Army Corps of Engineers. That would be a great start. Please see my Research section on the forum. I advice everyone to use it as a means of assistance.
http://208.56.11.96/Invision/index.php?showtopic=23
thanks everyone i have his service number and military occutional specicty number bacic train in danver's mass went to ft campbell ky. Walt's Daughter thanks a bunch i have been doing just that i have not had any luck as yet but i have been on the web site steady for three day working your links wow soooo much stuff there you can read for every haveing a great doing it oh!!!!!!may dad inlisted in aug of 43 he had been in unervisty of maine for a year studing engeering his father taught him about runing metal layth and welding while grow up did you get my pm i have talked to his sister''sand get smo stuff but can't found div. batt his was in so i am lookingfor his linage now(new word for me) chucktoo said you were a sweet hart guess he's right thanks a lot sonny
Charles: Welcome aboard. We needed some new blood here. Some of us old ww2 critters lseem to grow older. Now, as next of kin you should contact the county
Clerks Office where your dad was living when discharged as he probably had his discharge Recorded there. Most of us did that. As next of kin you can obtain a copy
of his discharge which should give you more facts. Wiith this information you can
contact St. Louis MO and recieve a re- issue of all his medals.