Christine, Have you tried contacting the merchant marines to get his service records? The merchant marines are now recognising and paying sailors for their service during WWII, so they must have records. My uncle was a merchant marine, so if you can't locate the organization, let me know and I will ask him. Susan Sellew --- You wrote: Marilyn, Thank you for the response. I have researched my family line back to the early 1600's. Where I am running into difficulty is when my grandfather came to the US (from Newfoundland). He came over with his brother around 1925, then several years later, according to information in Newfoundland, my great-grandparents came over with two daughters. At that point, my family pretty much disappears. I can not seem to locate ANY information on this family other than verbal info my father and aunts have gievn me. They didn't even know what their grandfather's name was. The only information I have on them comes from my father and an old navigation book passed down through the generations. This pointed me to Newfoundland where the listers there have been amazingly helpful. My grandfather (Frank Penney)was supposedly in the Merchant Marines and was rarely home. My father tells me he was born and grew up in Middletown and has told me stories of his childhood but doesn't know much about his family other than he had an Uncle Bob. My aunts claim that the church where my grandparents married had burnt down and that the records were destroyed. This really isn't much to go on especially since I live in California. I have been compiling this family history for quite some time and was planning on giving him a family history album for Father's Day. I would have liked to have at least been able to tell him when and where his parents were married, and what happened to his grandparents, and aunts. I know his uncle had married and passed away in Middleton as I have located his SSDI. I only met my grandfather Frank twice, and was lucky to have my children meet their great grandma Mae before she passed away. Thank you. Christine Elkins --- end of quote ---