Dear friends,
A family member, cousin of Mr. Carl Joseph Frigone, member of the 17th Airborne - 139th Airborne Engineer Battalion,
is looking up all kinds of information possible.
Mr Frigone was KIA on 8-2-1945 clearing a mine field, burried in Belgium until 1948 and then buried in penna.
Does anyone know a member of this Battalion, or a good source of information ?
Thanks
Phil
Hey Filip:
Nice to hear from you again. The following are some links to various sites, but I strongly suggest to contact NARA in Maryland to acquire the UNIT records, for these would give you the greatest amount of detail. Also the Army Corps of Engineers Office of History and Fort Leonard Wood. All great place. The links to all their info (and more) can be found in the research section:
http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=23
Various links:
http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/139/139.html
The following forum has many training images, but in order to see them you have to join. That might be worth it.
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107757
http://castraponere.com/bloodonthetalon/
http://castraponere.com/bloodonthetalon/remembrances-of-our-paratrooper-father/
https://www.1starmy.com/p-139th-airborne-engineer-battalion-patch-79633
http://unitpages.military.com/unitpages/unit.do?id=709107
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t93435.html
You may also want to contact my buddy Howard Huebner, for the 507th was placed with the 17th Airborne in 1944. He may be able to shed a little light for you? I will send his contact info via personal messenger, if you'd like. Let me know.
How's that for a start?
Ooooh, here's a roster!
I downloaded this so you can have a copy. It's easier to read this way, for you can zoom in and actually see the names. See attachment!
The following books on Amazon have various tidbits of info on this unit:
There IS a bn history book, but we need to locate a copy. Here's just the info on it. I will look into it...
http://books.google.com/books/about/139th_Airborne_Engineer_Battalion_Histor.html?id=K1BsuAAACAAJ
Found a copy of the book. Lots of money, but I paid over a hundred dollars for the first copy of the 540th book (my dad's unit)!
http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=187258
Still searching...
Here's a re-enactors page:
http://17th-airborne.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=232&Itemid=152〈=cs
http://familytreemak...1/UHP-0271.html
This is interesting. This page contains "Byron Armbruster World War II Papers - MS 984".
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/ms/page46094.html
The Byron Armbruster World War II Papers consist of original letters and V-mail written to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Armbruster, Napoleon, Ohio, and his girlfriend who became his wife when he returned from Europe, Eloise Higgins. Also included in the correspondence are a few letters written by other soldiers and people in England to both the Armbrusters and Eloise. The letters date from July 1943 to July 1945. The collection also includes photocopies of two scrapbooks kept by Byron while in the military service.
The collection was donated by Mr. Armbruster on August 4, 2003. Transcriptions of the letters are available on the Center for Archival Collection's web site and no restrictions exist on the research use of the collection.
Biographical Sketch
Byron Armbruster was born on February 19, 1914, to Christ and Anna Armbruster, in Napoleon, Ohio. He had been working at the Louden Packing Company in Napoleon, at the time he enlisted in March 1942. He was first attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, then to the 139th Airborne Engineer Battalion, and then to the 101st Airborne.
Here's a copy of a newsletter. Looks like there's a lot of contact info within it. Also saw our friend Henri Rogister within its pages...