51st Signal Battalion (Airborne)
The 51st Signal Battalion (Airborne) provides worldwide, crisis response, rapidly deployable, force projection signal support to the XVIII Airborne Corps Intermediate Staging Base/Forward Staging Base (ISB/FSB) and designated Joint Task Force Headquarters/Major Subordinate Commands in support of Army, Joint, or Combined Operations, during war and in support of military operations other than war.
The 51st Signal Battalion was constituted on 3 June 1916 in the United States Army as the 5th Telegraph Battalion at Camp Alfred Vail, NJ. Redesignated the 55th Telegraph Battalion, the unit was awarded three Battle Streamers for its service with III Corps in the Champagne-Marne-Lorraine Defensive, Saint Mihiel Offensive, and Meuse-Argonne Offensive during World War I.
Redesignated the 51st Signal Battalion on 18 March 1921, the battalion remained the only active duty signal unit in the Army for more than twenty years. The 51st fought in World War II as part of the Fifth Army during the Italian Campaign, and returned to the United States in 1945. The Battalion was reorganized and redesignated yet again as the 51st Signal Operation Battalion on 1 March 1945. It was again decorated with five Battle Streamers and its first Meritorious Unit Commendation for service in the Sicily, Naples-Foggia, RomeArno, Po Valley and North Apennines campaigns.
On 8 September 1950, the Battalion was again reorganized and redesignated as the 51st Signal Battalion (Corps) and supported I Corps throughout the Korean War. The Battalion earned five more Battle Streamers, its second Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Korean Presidential Citation. Remaining in Korea until after the conflict, it was then transferred to Fort Lewis, WA, and was deactivated 19 January 1978.
On 16 March 1981 the Battalion was reactivated as the Command Operations, Battalion of the 93rd Signal Brigade, deployed to Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield in 1990. It was awarded Battle Streamers for the Defense of Saudi Arabia and the Liberation and Defense of Kuwait.
On 16 April 1993, the 51st Signal Battalion's colors were unfurled at Fort Bragg for the first time. Several months later on 1 October 1993, the unit was redesignated as an airborne provisional battalion. This was the first time in history that the battalion served as an airborne unit. The unit also served during Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti and the Hurricane Marilyn Relief effort.
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