Photography by John Michael

Happy Birthday US Army Signal Corps

It’s 21 JUN – the Summer Solstice,  the most daylight today - more importantly it’s time to celebrate. This year the US Army Signal Corps celebrates its Sesquicentennial: A hundred and fifty years  has passed since Congress had authorized the addition of a signal officer to the Army Staff on 21 June 1860.

The first signal officer? It was then Captain Albert J. Myer who received the appointment six days later. (Myer was a trained surgeon who also developed the “wig-wag” method of using a a flag signal to transmit information across long distances – at night a torch was used. The branch insignia ’til this day heralds the flags and torch representing the Corps.).

Signal Corps Branch Insignia

 The first headquarters location of the Signal Corps was Fort Whipple, Virginia located in Arlington Heights – what once was part of the Custis-Lee estate.  It was there that flags, balloons and aircraft along with telegraph & telephone were used to convey the information which became key in the Civil War that would then consume the United States of America for the next five years.   In 1870, the first weather service began under the control of the Signal Corps and was also based at then Fort Whipple.

MG Albert J. Myer

The Signal Corps moved from Fort Whipple, which was later renamed Fort Myer in honor of the first Signal Corps Officer. Over time,  the Signal Corps can indeed look back with pride on one hundred fifty years of growth and accomplishment. Having become the Army’s third largest branch, comprising about 7 percent of its strength, it has taken military communications from floating balloons to waving flags to speeding electrons and orbiting satellites.

Tags: Albert J. Myer, Arlington Heights, Arlington National Cemetery, Custis-Lee Estate, Fort Myer, Fort Whipple, military flight, Signal Corps, US Army, US Army Signal Corps, weather service