509th engineer light ponton company

My grandfather was in the 509th Light Pontoon.  Please send me a message . 

Chessie509LP

My father Msgt. John Malley was in the 509th Eng.Light Ponton Compny. He enlisted in 1941 and.was discharged in 1946,.I know the 509th landed on Utah Beach in July 44. I'm looking for any info on the unit in general and /or any specific info on my Dad.

anything you can add is greatly appreciated. Dad was from Philadelphia.

How about your Grand father?
Thanks

Dan Malley

Hi Hydro1381

I just made contact with Chessie509LP as my father also was in the 509th Engineer Light Pontoon . I’ve been looking over her pictures trying to find him in them . I also shared with her his honorable discharge papers . I would love to find out why he received 5 bronze stars . What did he do to earn them ? My father’s name was Joseph Hanlon but he often went by Pat or Patty because he looked so Irish . We all come from around the Washington DC area . 

Hi Nyce61. I also questioned the notation about my Dad recieving 5 bronze stars and I believe the answer is that these are campaign citations and not the Bronze Star Medal for valor. One of my Dad's ribbons is the European, African, Middle Eastern Service Ribbon with 5 Bronze stars which designates the battles / campaigns he was part of as noted on his Army Discharge papers: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland & Central Europe. 
I hope this helps. Look at your dad's discharge papers and it should have similar notations.

besr regards

Dan Malley

Hi Nyce61. I also questioned the notation about my Dad recieving 5 bronze stars and I believe the answer is that these are campaign citations and not the Bronze Star Medal for valor. One of my Dad's ribbons is the European, African, Middle Eastern Service Ribbon with 5 Bronze stars which designates the battles / campaigns he was part of as noted on his Army Discharge papers: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland & Central Europe. 
I hope this helps. Look at your dad's discharge papers and it should have similar notations.

besr regards

Dan Malley

Hi Dan 

Thank you for responding and yes my dad has the  same on his discharge papers . I just went and looked at it. Thank you so much  
  I found my dad and also my uncle in the group picture Chessie has . My dad is on the left side of the picture on the top row 3rd one in the young blonde guy . My dad was 10 days shy of his 19th birthday when he enlisted in March of 1943 . My Uncle also the same age as my dad is also in the  picture next row down to the right of my dad . My Uncle was originally from Vermont became my dad best friend for life and married my mom’s younger sister and settled in the DC area too. I am just thrilled to meet both of you. I’ve searched many times but came up empty handed till last week. Btw my name is Teresa Nyce 

Again Thank You 

I am new to this group.  My father was in the 509th ENGR LP Co from March 1943- November 1945.  He left me some photos and a few stories of his time there.  A couple years ago I looked up the friends he spoken of on the internet and at that point they had all passed also.  I was hoping to email photos to them or their families.  My father 's name was Claude Harlow.  I have looked at his photo notes and do not see the names of anyone on this string, I was hoping that I would but maybe eventually someone will show up that knew him. I have his medals, he received one Bronze star and his discharge papers say the same as you noted above.

I'm glad I found this forum and will keep an eye on it for others from his company,

Take Care,

Annette Harlow

I just posted a long post about having photos and wanting to email them to family and sent it off before taking a great look at my Dad's photo notes.  I have 3 photographs that have someone he called Sgt Malley in them. This could certainly be your father.  I don't know if I can attach images here, if not I can send them to your email.  

Annette Harlow

Annette 

I am Teresa which as you can see also had a father in the 509th ENGR LP Co. What caught my eye is March 1943 which is the same month as my father till Dec 1945

But my dad possibly went by several nicknames . Either Joe since his name was Joseph or like I said before maybe Pat or Patty as many called him Pat his last name was Hanlon 

But now I’m again confused about the bronze stars 

why did your father get 1 while mine got 5 if they represented the campaigns. But one thing is they probably trained and ship out together based on March 1943 and again his name was Joseph Hanlon . I do know the VA made quite a fuss about his service when I called to inform them of his death and like you I also have a couple but not many stories he told over the years. But the only pictures so far I’ve seen is of a Facebook page a women made about her Grandfather which included a large group picture which took me several days and talking it over with my older sister  to figure out which one was him. He was so young at the time but the one I do believe is him is because it looks similar to my 16 year old grandson. Strong family resemblance . 
  I’m glad to see that now there are several of us now asking about them since for many years prior I couldn’t find anything on this troop online yet knew they were very active in the war 

Teresa Nyce 

Teresa,

I bet they were together.  I have the photo of Dad's class, a group photo with typed names on the back, could be the group he finished basic training with but it doesn't have your dad's name in it so maybe they were togetherr once they got to Europe.  I searched for Joe or Pat or Hanlon in my names on the photos (per his ID's on the back) I saw a few Joe's but different last names.  Do you know where your father trained.  I have photos of bridges that they built here while training (Fort Gibson, OK) and photos of bridges they built in Europe, some of those photos have people in it without names.

Dad received a Bronze Star for Nov 9-10 1944.  It was for a specific 30 hour period that he spent working in the icy waters and ferrying injured men back and forth across the river under fire. I have the citation for it, with a note in his handwriting to his mother to keep it for him.  I think if he had received others he would have kept the citations also and only one is noted on his discharge papers, though multiple campaigns are listed.

I would like to see the Facebook page you mentioned, maybe my father is in that photo also.

I feel fairly confident that I have photos of Dan Malley's father,  I am hoping he sees these posts so I can get copies to him.

My dad was 44 when I was born and he passed in 2002, I wish I had asked him more questions but I was young and didn't see the urgency.  I regret that. I did video tape him telling a couple stories but not many.

Annette Harlow

Annette 

strange in a lot of ways you sound like me with the regrets of not asking more questions. The only thing I have is his honorable discharge paper . I was the youngest of 4 children. I was born when my father was 38 he’s passed in 2004 from Parkinson’s.. So since I have his discharge papers I can tell you what it states in terms of when he went in and when he separated from the army . So first off he was from the DC area . So it states his induction was Mar 10th 1943 with active service of Mar 17th 1943 Fort Myers Va . Date of separation was Dec 3rd 1945 Fort Meade Md. I had shared his paperwork with the lady on Facebook who I contacted after a Google search showed her facebook page . As I said I have searched for years to see if I could find anything on the 509th Engr Co. I did see the bridge picture online but other then that for years now nothing till very recently which is exciting. One of the stories he told which I told the lady on Facebook about was when his commanding officer and him got separated from the rest of the troop and they spent days inside of a hollowed out tree . Was it Mally?  he was talking about . It as someone that was higher up then him . He had a long scar on his hand he said he got during hand to hand combat with a German from their bayonet and he also had a constant reminder of his military service by a scar in the center of his chest from a reaction from the dog tags . He use to go every once in a while to have it shaved down . Hours before he passed away he was back there . He thought he was back with his army buddies laughing and toasting .So on his deathbed that was who he was remembering. That’s how much those times affected him. That and what the Va told me when I called after his death is what made me want to know . So yes I have been searching for years and many regrets later here we are . Only thing else I can say is you can try and message me on Facebook messenger as I don’t think this page allows email addresses posted and since I’m new here I don’t know if the site has the ability to private message.

So here’s alittle more information on me since you know my name 

I’m in Delaware now but was originally from Maryland that way you will know you have the right Teresa Nyce . That way I can send you also his discharge papers like I did the other lady but that is of course completely up to you . 
Teresa Nyce 

Hi Annette

I replied to your post about the 509 Engineer Light Ponton Company and your photos referencing Sgt. Malley, who is my Dad. History Hub would not approve my post because I included my email, which goes against their policy. I don't know how to proceed with this . If anyone at History Hub who reads this would provide a way of getting these photos without violating the email posting police, I would be grateful for the help.

Best regards

Dan Malley

Dan,  I had assumed you didn't see my post and that is why I hadn't heard from you.  I'd love to get these photos to you. Of course they aren't the resolution we expect these days but when I've received old photos that I hadn't seen before of my parents I am just happy to just see that moment in time.  I hate to suggest other platforms, especially social media, but you could reach out to me on Facebook or Facebook Messenger.  Since there are many people with my name, my profile photo has 2 of my dogs with me.  Hopefully History Hub will rectify the situation and figure out a way for me to get these photos to you but if they cannot, feel free to find me on FB. 

Take Care,

Annette

Teresa,

I sent you a message in FB Messenger awhile back.  Sometimes notifications don't show up, so when you have a chance, look for my message on Messenger.

Take Care,

Annette