Aberdeen Proving Ground Celebrates 151st Anniversary of the Signal Corps

By Mr. Robert DiMichele (CECOM)June 24, 2011

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Maj. Gen. Randolph P. Strong, commanding general of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, took the opportunity of the Signal Corps’ 151st anniversary to give a history quiz to the members of the local chapters of the U.S. Army Signal Corp... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. -- Maj. Gen. Randolph P. Strong, commanding general of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, took the opportunity of the Signal Corps’ 151st anniversary to give a history quiz to the members of the local chapters of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Association and the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association.

He stumped the audience with little known, but significant, facts about the contributions of the Signal Corps to Army history. For example, he asked the audience if they knew who bought the first military aircraft for the American Armed Forces. The answer is Charles Wallace of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He signed the contract for the first military aircraft from the Wright Brothers in 1908. Strong joked that it was the Army’s first fixed price contract with an incentive fee. The Signal Corps bought the airplane for $30,000. That cost included a $5,000 incentive for the plane to reach 40 miles per hour. After all, it could only carry two people about 50 feet above the ground for just an hour. So, the speed was a necessary capability.

He also cited Theodor Geisel, the famous author known as Dr. Seuss, as a significant but little known Signal Corps member. During World War II, Geisel worked in an animation department of the Signal Corps where he wrote a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In addition, current Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Signal Corps and he served on active duty following his graduation from the Yale Law School in 1975.

The Signal Corps traces its existence from June 21, 1860, when Congress authorized the appointment of one signal officer in the Army, and a War Department order carried the following assignment: "Signal Department--Assistant Surgeon Albert J. Myer to be Signal Officer, with the rank of Major, June 27, 1860, to fill an original vacancy.”

Albert James Myer, an Army doctor, developed the idea of a separate, trained professional military signal service. He proposed that the Army use his visual communications system called "wigwag" while serving as a medical officer in Texas in 1856. When the Army adopted his system June 21, 1860, the Signal Corps was born with Myer as the first and only Signal officer.

Using flags for daytime signaling and a torch at night, wigwag was first tested in combat in June 1861 to direct the fire of a harbor battery against the Confederate positions opposite Fort Monroe, Va. Until March 3, 1863, when Congress authorized a regular Signal Corps for the duration of the war, Myer was forced to rely on detailed personnel. Some 2,900 officers and enlisted men served, albeit not at any one time, in the Civil War Signal Corps.

The Signal Corps Regiment wasn’t actually established until June 1986 when it was activated into the Army’s newly created Regimental System. Strong used the regiment’s motto, “Prot Patria Vigilans,” “Watchful for the Country” to emphasize the value of the Signal Corps accomplishments and the increasing role it will play for the Army.

From telegraphs to tactical radios, from radios to radar, from establishing the national weather service to bouncing the first signal off of the moon, the Signal Corps has provided the country with vital services. “Throughout the 20th Century, the Signal Corps led the way in technological developments that gave our Soldiers a combat edge,” Strong said. “Since that time, the Signal Corps has continued to contribute enormously to the scientific and military advancement of our country and the safety of its citizens.”

For example, in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Fairfax County, Va., Emergency Management Agency asked CECOM to support the search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon. CECOM provided valuable assistance On the Gulf Coast in support of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts to include satellite communications technologies and in 2008, it was C4ISR technology that successfully located hostages in Colombia that were constantly being moved beneath the dense jungle canopy.

“Watchful for the country, those words stand truer today that ever before. While we remember and celebrate the successes and achievements of our past, the Signal Corps cannot rest on its laurels. If there was ever a time for the Signal Corps to stand watchful for the county it is now,” Strong emphasized. “We have entered the age of information warfare.”

He explained to the members of the two chapters that the capabilities to meet the requirements of an asymmetric battlespace will need to rely extensively on communication and electronics. Fused information and data based on the latest intelligence and communicated on a fast, reliable network to our Soldiers will be essential to giving them a battlefield edge.

“If you ask Soldiers in the theater of operations what are the most important tools that give them their edge over the enemy, they will tell you it is their communications equipment and systems.”

Celebrating these and other achievements the youngest and oldest members of the Signal Corps in attendance at the event cut the birthday cake. Capt. Ruth Anne McDermott, aide to Maj. Gen. Strong, was the youngest Signal Soldier in attendance and Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gerard Brohm was the oldest. (CECOM and Fort Monmouth Commander, January 1995-September 1998)

Col. Cris Boyd, the Signal Corps Regimental Association’s chapter president, presided over the event which formally marked the transition of the Mallette Chapter from Fort Monmouth, N.J., to APG.

Strong, the Army’s 33rd Chief of Signal, closed his remarks by quoting the first Chief of Signal, Brig. Gen. Myer, in describing the regiment. “There is no branch of the service in which military practice and scientific attainment may add more to the value of an officer, or be more variously employed to advance the interest of the State.”