1029TH. SIGNAL COMPANY


The 29th. Signal Platoon was formed 15 February, 1941 at McChord Field, Washington. A month later a cadre of 11 men were transfered from the 320th. Signal Company to become the first members of the new platoon.

On 3 June, Lt. Flashman, the original C.O., was relieved of command, his successor being 1st. Lt. Dorn L. Petit, who remained in command until early spring of 1943.

During the last week of September, 1942, news came through concerning the parent service group which was to be gathered at Lockbourne Field, Columbus, OH. The personnel of the company changed during the few months stay at Lockbourne. From different camps and schools new men filtered into the unit, some raw recruits, others radio operators and repair men who had completed their training in specialty schools. From a mere 30 men the company grew to 118 prior to departure from Lockbourne.

2nd. Lt. Gordon W. Trout joined on 25 October, and on 24 November W/O Martin T. Lushbaugh was assigned to the unit.

During January, 1943 the 29th. was sent to Tobyhanna Military Reservation in Pennsylvania to open a signal training school for service group companies. Grand plans were drawn up to train as many as 300 men a month, but command decided at this point that Tobyhanna was unsuitable for a training site so the whole plan was dropped.

On 20 February, 1943, Capt. Pettit was transfered and 2nd. Lt. Trout took command. On 6 February 2nd. Lts. Slater and Webster joined the company. On 10 February W/O Lushbaugh was transfered. On 7 May the company was again re-designated, this time as the 1029th. Signal Company, Service Group.

The month of May saw the unit on the move again, this time to Fort Dix and preparations were made for the trip overseas. Near the end of July the group moved to nearby Camp Kilmer then to New York, where the SS. Athalone Castle was boarded on 8 August, 1943.

Arriving at King's Cliffe in August of 1943, the group found an airbase already set up, but in need of modifications before operations could begin. The switchboard was installed in the control tower; signal supply was set up on the line, only to be moved to a larger warehouse a few months later; signal center and the crypt room were located in the headquarters building. Most of the work was done with an average of 40 men.

As no radio station was set up immediately after arrival, communications depended solely upon wire. Most of the wire communication equipment found was common to Wittering, a huge RAF base. A telephone central existed, using one switchboard with 36 of its available 50 extensions fitted with telephones. Trunk circuits connected with King's Cliffe with the exchange at Wansford, a nearby village, Wittering and Walcott Hall, location of the 67th. Fighter Wing Headquarters. All of the military trunk circuits were routed through Walcott to higher headquarters. Upon the field itself, the underground telephone network was typical of those constructed in England during the early days of the Blitz. Full use was made of these cables, but many miles of American field wire were used to suppliment the underground installation.

By December, the additional cables required ahd been installed and everything was in order for the first day of operations over the continent. Two switchboards were servicing the administrative traffic as well as a separate board for operational traffic. One defense switchboard located at battle headquarters connected eight gun positions with the main switchboard and flying control. Flying control had it's own small switchboard with a direct line to Wing Operations at Walcott Hall. Just before V-E Day, the communication system included some 215 telephones of British and American field types. Telephone calls handled averaged aprox. 20 local calls per minute and about 150 long distance, ot trunk, calls per day.

One teleprinter was operating when the base was taken over. In a matter of weeks, two administrative machines were installed in the sgnal center at Hqs. On one circuit connected to Wing Hqs., one ops and intelligence machine was installed for the 20th. Fighter Group, and the machine in the control tower converted for the use of the weather section. By November, American machines had been installed in all three places -- two in signal center, two at weather, and four at operations. While the 55th. Fighter Squadron was at Wittering two machines were installed there. The machines in signal center were operated by signal personnel and a monthly average ran as follows: messages incoming _1350, messages outgoing - 500. Signal men were responsible not only for the installation but also for the reapir and maintenance of every teleprinter on the station.

Few people on the base were aware of the fact that during the winter of 1943-1944, a radio station, operating with wing hqs. and other groups was installed at battle headquarters. The setup was unique in that the station was entirely underground with the exception of the improvised antenna. Dummy traffic was initiated in order to deceive the enemy intercept stations in case the radio net was put into effect in an emergency. The station operated for the better part of a year, closing down in December, 1944.

A cryptographic section, separate from signal center personnel was necessary in the ETO. During the peak months of operation, the section averaged about 9000 incoming code groups a month, and 100 outgoing code groups. Most of the section's time was not employed in actual encoding and decoding of messages, but rather in the constnat checking of documents for which it was responsible, and the preparation of the many reports, musters, and inventories required.

Among the most important functions of the signal company was that of supply. Signal supply procured stock and issued all items of signal equipment. Repair parts and assemblages for aircraft radios constituted the greater part of the turnover.

Although hurt by lack of man power, the unit was able to field a strong team in all sports played on the base. Two men played on the station baseball team during 1944, and one played center on the basketball team for two seasons. Two of the company's personnel operated the station hobby shop, another worked as movie projectionist in the theater and two others acted as instructors in the station G.I. College. Taken a s a whole, the Signal Company maintined a highly efficent communications system, and never failed to take a leading part in all base activities.

On 15 April, 1945 the 1029th. Signal Company was officially disbanded. This was in accordance with the reorganization of the entire service group, whereby all non-Air Force personnel were transfered into the Air Force proper.



RETURN TO THE 97TH. SERVICE GROUP

RETURN TO THE 20TH. FG

Unless otherwise noted, all content © copyright The Art of Syd Edwards 1999. All rights reserved and reproduction is prohibited.

1