Recognizes the 150th anniversary of the Army Signal Corps.
Honors the Corps and its members who have perished in pursuit of the cause of freedom.
[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1590 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1590
Recognizing the 150th anniversary of the Army Signal Corps.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 30, 2010
Ms. Giffords (for herself, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr.
Bonner, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Barrow, Mrs. Davis of California,
Mr. Jones, Mr. Sablan, Mr. Thornberry, Mr. Owens, Mrs. Myrick, Mr.
Kissell, Mr. Michaud, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Aderholt, Ms. Kilpatrick of
Michigan, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Wittman, Mr. Turner, Ms. Shea-
Porter, and Mr. Heinrich) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the 150th anniversary of the Army Signal Corps.
Whereas the Army Signal Corps consists of more than 65,000 officers and enlisted
soldiers;
Whereas the Army Signal Corps is responsible for all systems of communication
for the Army;
Whereas Major Albert James Myer first conceived the idea of a separate, trained
professional military signal service in 1860;
Whereas, on June 21, 1860, the Army adopted Major Myer's ``wigwag''
communications system to form the Army Signal Corps;
Whereas the first Army Signal Corps methods were tested and proven during Civil
War combat by using a single flag and a two-element code in daylight and
torches at night;
Whereas in March 1863, Congress authorized a regular Army Signal Corps for the
duration of the Civil War, and approximately 2,900 officers and enlisted
soldiers served in the Signal Corps during the Civil War;
Whereas by 1867, the electric telegraph, along with visual signaling, became the
responsibility of the Army Signal Corps;
Whereas during the Spanish-American War of 1898, the Army Signal Corps played an
integral role in victory with the employment of visual signaling,
telephone and telegraph communications, combat photography, and balloons
for intelligence gathering;
Whereas the Army Signal Corps introduced the first wireless telegraph in the
Western Hemisphere shortly after the Spanish-American War, constructing
the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System;
Whereas, on August 1, 1907, an Aeronautical Division was established within the
office of the Chief Signal Officer, which lead to the Wright Brothers
conducting test flights of the Army's first airplane build to Army
Signal Corps specifications in 1908;
Whereas Chief Signal Officer George Owen Squier worked closely with private
industry to perfect radio tubes while creating a major Signal Laboratory
at Camp Alfred Vail, New Jersey;
Whereas during World War I, women switchboard operators were sworn into the Army
Signal Corps;
Whereas Colonel William Blair, a pioneer in radar and director of the Army
Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth, patented the first Army
radar, demonstrated in 1937;
Whereas innovations by the Army Signal Corps in tactical frequency modulation
radio radar became the most significant communications development of
World War II;
Whereas in 1941, the Army Signal Corps developed the first FM backpack radio,
the SCR-300, providing front-line troops with reliable, static-free
communications for the first time;
Whereas the Army Signal Corps played a crucial role in documenting evidence of
Nazi atrocities and the Holocaust, with a number of these images later
transmitted to news agencies in America, helping to inform the world
about the horrors of Nazism and the plight of concentration camp
prisoners;
Whereas in Project Diana in 1946, the Army Signal Corps successfully bounced
radar signals off the moon, helping pave the way for space
communications;
Whereas during the Korean War, the very-high frequency radio of the Army Signal
Corps became the tactical communications backbone throughout the combat
zone;
Whereas during the Korean War and Vietnam War, the Army Signal Corps operated
Officer Candidate Schools, initially at Fort Monmouth in 1950-1953,
which graduated 1,234 officers, and at Fort Gordon in 1965-1968, which
produced 2,213 signal officers;
Whereas, on December 18, 1958, the Army Signal Corps, with Air Force assistance,
launched its first communications satellite, Project SCORE,
demonstrating the feasibility of worldwide communications in delayed and
real time by means of simple active satellite relays;
Whereas during the Vietnam War, the requirement for high-quality telephone and
message circuits led to the Army Signal Corps' deployment of
troposphereic-scatter radio, as well as developing the SYNCOM satellite
communications service and a commercial fixed-stations system known as
the Integrated Wideband Communications System;
Whereas during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and
1991, computers and satellites greatly enhanced the ability of
commanders to coordinate their forces;
Whereas in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army Signal Corps automate, transmit, and
receive voice and data information to keep the Army informed and ready
to respond to any contingency;
Whereas the soldiers of the Army Signal Corps serve in both combat brigades and
functional units from the foxhole to the White House;
Whereas the Army Signal Corps' 9th Signal Command (NETCOM) located at Fort
Huachuca, Arizona, operates and defends Army computer networks;
Whereas the Army Signal Corps' 5th Signal Command is a European-based tactical
and strategic communications organization specializing in command and
control in support of theater-limited, joint-forces and combined forces
activities;
Whereas the Army Signal Corps' 335th Signal Command manages the
telecommunications infrastructure for Southwest Asia in support of
USARCENT/Third Army and CENTCOM during peacetime and contingency
operations;
Whereas the soldiers of the Army Signal Corps skillfully handle the dynamics and
professional hurdles that are so familiar to the Corps;
Whereas, after 150 years, the mission of the Army Signal Corps remains to
provide and manage communications and information systems support for
the command and control of the Armed Forces; and
Whereas the Army Signal Corps consistently carries out its mission with the
utmost efficiency and effectiveness, helping to ensure the safety and
situational awareness of members of the Armed Forces in harm's way: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the 150th anniversary of the Army Signal
Corps;
(2) recognizes the valuable, historic, and continued
contribution of the Army Signal Corps;
(3) honors the members of the Army Signal Corps; and
(4) honors the members of the Army Signal Corps who have
perished in pursuit of the cause of freedom.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
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