For some historians, wars are made of battles and maps, generals and strategies. But only the soldier who was there, on the ground, can truly comprehend the realities of war, its stories of individual triumph, the formation of lifelong friendships, and above all, doing a job that had to be done against all adversity. The 440th Signal Battalion chronicles the saga of one U.S. Army battalion over seven decades, a time during which the world, and its warfare, changed more than it had in the thousand years that came before. Experience war as the 440th did, as they are attacked the night of December 10, 1944, by the Japanese, often unable to see their adversaries, but close enough to exchange taunts with an enemy soldier, through the heart wrenching story of the death of Specialist Aaron R. Clark in Iraq in December 2003, the battalion's last wartime loss before its inactivation in 2007. From World War II, through Korea, the Cold War, and the Gulf War, the story of the 440th comes to life through hundreds of interviews, documents, and photographs. Ultimately, it is a story of ordinary people acting extraordinarily. For more information, visit http://440thsignalbattalion.blogspot.com.

Auszug. � Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The 440th Signal Battalion

An Oral HistoryBy James L. Hendricks

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright � 2009 James L. Hendricks
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-5516-1

Preface..............................................................................xiiiAcknowledgments......................................................................xixIntroduction.........................................................................xxiiiPart I: Chronological History of the Battalion................................1Chapter 1: 1941-1945: Beginning through World War II.............................3Chapter 2: 1946-1956: Occupation in Japan and the Korean War.....................45Chapter 3: 1961-2007: Germany through Inactivation...............................61Part II: Common Experiences....................................................93Chapter 4: "Greeting!": Democracy at Work........................................95Chapter 5: Why I Joined the Army.................................................99Chapter 6: Getting There.........................................................101Chapter 7 Welcome to the 440th!.................................................107Chapter 8: Making Do.............................................................113Chapter 9: Making the Best of It.................................................117Chapter 10: On the Job............................................................123Chapter 11: R&R...................................................................139Chapter 12: Friendship and the Respect of Others..................................145Chapter 13: While Serving in the 440th............................................153Chapter 14: Some Humorous Moments.................................................183Chapter 15: In Memoriam...........................................................205Chapter 16: Going Home............................................................213Chapter 17: Maintaining Contact...................................................217Chapter 18: After All Is Said and Done............................................223Afterword............................................................................227Appendix 1: Chronology...............................................................233Appendix 2: Battalion Commanders.....................................................237Appendix 3: Significant Locatinos in 440th History...................................239Appendix 4: Designations of the 440th................................................241Appendix 5: Campaign Participation Credit and Other Honors...........................243Appendix 6: Abbreviations and Acronyms...............................................247Contributors.........................................................................251Selected Bibliography................................................................257Further Reading......................................................................259Index................................................................................261

Chapter One

1941-1945: Beginning through World War II

"I was drafted nine months before Pearl Harbor."

In 1940, with the Nazi conquest of Europe continuing and Imperial Japan expanding its territory in the Far East, the United States began to increase its military forces. In September of that year, Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act, the "peacetime draft" as it was known. The future 440th would be a part of this expansion, and the men who would later comprise the battalion were drawn from a number of other units and signal battalions from around the country. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States' entry into the war, expansion rapidly increased. Even with an army of around 1.6 million at the time, the total of all U.S. land forces ranked among the lowest of any major country in the world-about the same as Romania. The Signal Corps was comprised of only about fifty thousand officers and enlisted men.

In March of 1941, I was in the Fiftieth Signal Battalion located in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. At that time, about a dozen of us formed a cadre and were sent to Camp Bowie, Texas. We were joined by a cadre of a dozen men from the Fifty-first Signal Battalion, which [had been located] in New Jersey. Within a couple of weeks the draftees started to arrive and we were in business! Garner A. Towne, Australia/Pacific 1942-45

I was drafted nine months before Pearl Harbor. Three pm, Wednesday, July 23, 1941: left Fort Monmouth, New Jersey for Camp Bowie, Texas, arriving there July 25. Arthur S. McFerron, Australia/Pacific 1942-45 About the first of July 1941, approximately two hundred of us came from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey to Camp Bowie, Texas, near Brownwood, [which was] headquarters [of] the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division, which was being brought up to full strength from National Guard, reserve and draft forces. The cadre of regular army NCOs were in place at the Twenty-seventh Signal Battalion and we made up a part of A Company, B Company and Headquarters. Some other [men] came in two or three months later to fill the battalion. Most of the officers, below major, were reserves, from military colleges, etc. Claude Morgan, Australia/Pacific 1942-45

"We heard the news on the radio." We [returned to] Camp Bowie [Texas] on the evening of December seventh. We had spent the entire day in the field practicing convoy runs and did not return to the motor pool until late in the afternoon. Several of us were sitting around playing cards because it was just a little early for supper. It was only then that we heard the news on the radio that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. When I ran over to our company area, the company clerk told me that my mother had called and asked that I call home at once. I called her and she told me that my brother and she were leaving then and would drive straight through from Michigan to Camp Bowie. When they arrived two days later, we had just enough time to spend a couple of hours together. Our unit was already packed and we moved out to the Rio Grande River where we set up lines all along the banks. Garner A. Towne, Australia/Pacific 1942-45 On December 10, about ninety of us went on our first "war-time duty." We loaded up those old Dodge and Chevy trucks with copper wire, C-rations, etc., and headed for Comstock, which was about thirty miles from Del Rio on the Texas/ Mexican border. We were issued rifles and side arms but no ammunition! We were to guard the railroad bridges over the Devils River to provide communications between sentry and headquarters, we strung wire between the bridges and Del Rio on Western Union poles. [A unit of] the First Cavalry relieved us of guard duty after Christmas. Claude Morgan, Australia/Pacific 1942-45

"Bonds and stamps, douse Axis lamps!"

The 440th Signal Battalion was constituted into the United States Army on March 18, 1942, and activated at Geiger Field, Washington, a week later. The men soon began training together by...

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