Keepers of the Sparks
Original caption: “Signal Corps activities at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Field telephone and switchboard operators in action during maneuvers, 1930.” Note the badge of the 51st Signal Battalion on the men’s campaign hats.
Signal Corps photo 111-SC-100576. National Archives Identifier 329585448
Before the days of Fort Eisenhower (Gordon), the U.S. Army Signal School from 1924-1947, tasked with all land forces’ meteorological, photographic, and communications training, as well as running the Signal Corps Laboratory, was in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
The post’s two tactical units in the 1930s, the 16 officers and 437 enlisted men (authorized billets) of the 51st Signal Battalion and the 1st Signal Company, provided enlisted instructors for the school while at the same time preserving the Army’s sole provisional GHQ signals group and signals intelligence company. The 51st, which had served the role in the AEF in 1918 as the 55th Telegraph Battalion, had some experience with the matter.
They often took their show on the road.
Original Caption: National Rifle Matches, Camp Perry, Ohio, Aug. 25 – Sept. 14, 1930 Signal Corps Detachment Lt Lubbe, S.C. National Archives Identifier 405231336. Local Identifier 111-SC-95390-128
Note the badge of the 51st Signal Battalion in the above photo.
Original caption: Signal Corps activities at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Telephone Operator at message center, in operation during maneuvers. Night scene. National Archives Identifier 329585451. Local Identifier 111-SC-100577
Field Printer. Fort Monmouth, NJ, December 1932 111-SC-098285
Fort Monmouth Signal Corps field radio set in operation during maneuvers 1930. 111-SC-100578
Fort Monmouth Telephone Linemen in action during maneuvers. 1930 111-SC-100574
Fort Monmouth Message Center in operation during maneuvers 1930 111-SC-100575
Fort Monmouth Field telephone switchboard in operation during maneuvers. 1930 111-SC-100573
Original Caption: A One-Horse Power Radio Set. A mobile transmitter and receiver for mounting on horseback has been developed at the Signal Corps radio laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The hand generator shown at the left furnishes the power for the set, which is SCR-189. October, 1932. National Archives Identifier 329578433, Local Identifier 111-SC-98102
In 1935, the battalion took part in the Pine Camp Maneuvers in New York, which at the time were the largest peacetime exercises, with some 35,000 Army and National Guard personnel. The 51st was solely responsible for the installation of all communications during this exercise; in this capacity, it employed 177 miles of bare copper wire, 126 miles of twisted pair field wire, and 8,260 feet of lead-covered overhead cable. This set the stage for the larger Louisiana Maneuvers in 1941, which began the lessons learned for the Army in WWII.
The 51st shipped out for its second World War in 1943 and would earn a Meritorious Unit Commendation and five campaign streamers supporting the invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign.
Following post-war operations in Korea and the Sandbox, the 51st earned three additional MUCs and the Presidential Unit Citation. Today, as the oldest continuously serving active-duty signal unit (formed in 1916 and often renamed but never disbanded), the now 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion is part of the 22nd Corps Signal Brigade and is based at Joint Base Lewis McChord, tasked with distributing enhanced comms throughout the Pacific.
Their motto is Semper Constans (Always Constant).