looking for my american grand father.

I know some might poke fun on me, but the fact is, my father and I never know who was my grand father. My father was born in 1946, in a village named Presles situated 30 kilometers from paris. My grand mother just died. Just before, she gave us a name "John Davis" an american soldier. Now I know why I was good at languages at school :) . That's all we know.
I assume this is quite a common nanme & to be franck, I don't know where to star my research.

Local history society to know what units were stationned at or near Presles.
Then there should be some sort of US military archive you could access...

You're going to need more than just the name John Davis.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...e+Search&meta=

Au fait, désolé d'apprendre le décés de ta grand-mère. :(

elle a eu une vie bien remplie ne t'inquiete pas. actually that's a good idea I'll have a look to the local archives

a research site

another