[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>