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509th
Signal Battalion |
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| Battalion History | ||||
| 1976 - present | ||||
 509th Signal Bn DUI |
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| (Source: Official 509th Signal Battalion website - http://www.509sigbn.army.mil/) | ||||
| COLTANO HISTORY |
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| If you have more information on the history or organization of the 509th Signal Battalion, please contact me. | ||||
| (Source Email from John Welch, 509th Sig Bn, 1988-90) | ||||
| I commanded both the 7th Signal Bde (1995-96) and 509th Signal Bn in Italy (1988-90). We need to add the 167th Signal Company to its list of subordinate companies. It transfered from SETAF to US Army Signal Command and 5th Signal Command in 1985 and remained in the Battalion until it deactivation (due to theater drawdown) in 1992. The 167th Signal Company which was activate as one of the 3 Photo companies in the ETO during WWII had existed for many years within SETAF before being designated an echelon above corps mission and being realigned to the EAC Signal Command (USASC and 5th Signal). |
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| 54th Signal Company | ||||
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| 56th Signal Company | ||||
| 1984 | ||||
| (Source: ECHO, July 1984) | ||||
| Coltano: a small, satisfying standout by SSgt Gayle S. Marks, NCOIC of research and analysis for the 56th at Coltano. Chances are you won't be able to find the place named Coltano on a map of Italy. It's that small. It's well known, though, within USAISC (formerly USACC) circles, and for good reason. The U.S. Army has been communicating from a site a few kilometers from the small Tuscan village of Coltano, Italy, for more than 20 years. It lies just 15 minutes from the beaches of the Italian Riviera, and on a clear day, although you can't quite see forever, it is possible to see the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. At this site in 1911, a man named Giglielmo Marconi made history. He connected three continents - Europe, North America and Africa - by wireless communicaton: the radio. This unprecedented feat established Coltano as a focal point in world-wide communications and it's maintained that position for more than 70 years. Today the 56th Signal Company of the 509th Signal Battalion operates and maintains the Coltano Automatic Switching Center (ASC), one of the three in Europe, all under the control of the Defense Communications Agency. The troops of the 56th who work in this Automatic Digital Network switch (AUTODIN) take great pride in the important mission they perform at Coltano. Their hard work assures the Coltano switch, a major link in the world-wide AUTODIN network, stays on line, providing vital communications between the United States and all of Europe. Their dedication hasn't gone unnoticed, however. Recently the Coltano ASC was selected as the AUTODIN Switch of the Year for Europe by the Defense Communication Agency. Winning the award made the 56th troops justifiably proud, but didn't come as a surprise to them. They're well aware of their success rate. The graph of monthly down-time statistics shows figures which are consistently high enough to impress even the most seasoned of signal workers. Coltano staffers aren't strangers to receiving awards of excellence either. In the years since 1969, when the switch began operating, the 56th troops have attained numerous awards for their work. But resting on laurels isn't enough for the 56th soldiers. They continually strive to excel and surpass even the seemingly unbeatable records of past years. Sgt. Maj. Eddie McGlown, site chief, can personally attest to individual and collective dedication at the facility. McGlown is currently serving his fourth tour at Coltano. Like him, numerous other soldiers have returned to the site on succeeding tours, most of them requesting the assignment. Extension request rates are high and the command takes pride in being able to retain a large percentage of first-rate soldiers at the facility. This is especially important because many of the Military Occupational Specialties (MOS's) worked in the ASC are in the Army's Space Imbalanced Program. MSgt. Temple Nunnally, NCOIC of the site's quality assurance section, says plainly, "People extend or request to come back here because we've got a full-time live mission. At other assignments they often spend a good portion of their time doing things like painting rocks or inventorying commissary shelves - but here that's not the case. The soldiers get to do what they were trained for." CWO 2 Orin N. Fatolitis, the site OIC, believes that excellence doesn't just happen - it's built. And the "building blocks" are good training programs and good training. Training is constantly going on in most areas of the switch 24hours a day. How effective the training programs are was recently shown when the ASC won the runner-up award in the 5th Signal Command's Commanding General's Maintenance Award in the intermediate category. Most of the site personnel holding the MOS of 34H (Automatic Digital Message Switch Repairer) had no electronics experience prior to working in AUTODIN, much less experience in maintaining one of the Army's most advance communications computers. 34H is not an entry-level MOS, and many new maintenance personnel are in the grades of E-6 or above. At a time in their careers when their contemporaries have become experts in their jobs through years of experience, these mid-grade NCOs have accepted the challenge of learning again, and that's good. The younger soldiers reporting to Coltano soon realizes that training and learning are where it's at, and follow suit. It's been a good year at Coltano ASC for awards and recognitions, not all of them mentioned here, but now, at Coltano, the troops aren't thinking of it much. They're busy communicating. |
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| 59th Signal Company | ||||
| 1984 | ||||
| (Source: ECHO, July 1984) | ||||
| The 59th Sig Co operates an AN/GSC-39 satellite communications terminal at the Coltano radio site. | ||||
| (Source: Email from Jon Watt, 59th Sig Co & HHD, 509th Sig Bn) | ||||
I was assigned to 59th Sig Co in Nov 1979 with extension and a re-enlistment for station – then in 1982 for 6 months was assigned to HHD, 509th, departing in 1983. I returned for a second tour 1988. |
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| (Source: Email from E. Saul, 59th Sig Co, 1985-87) | ||||
| I worked 13/9L maintenance Mar 1985-Mar 1987. I see the patch with a dragon. We wore a different patch when I was in the 59th. As I said before it was/is a globe of the world. A one dimensional picture of a globe, if you will, with a lightening bolt going through the center at an angle. I'm not sure how much information I have that would be valuable for you. I remember a lot of things. I was a microwave technician. We had four radio 'shots'. Two were tropospheric scatter and two were line of sight. We had the 'krypto' room. There was some equipment we worked on that was used in the Korean War: the AN/FCC-118. As you are probably aware the 59th signal provided commo for the Korean War. Gosh the list just goes on and on. I'm remembering stuff I hadn't thought about in years. 20, to be exact on the amount of years. The First Sergeant for 59th Signal was Charlie Simpson. He was married to an Italian lady. The CSM was the same as the one you mention in the brief article, CSM Pacheco; in fact his driver was one of my closest friends away from work. |
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| Newspaper articles | ||||
| (Source: ECHO, Sept 1986) | ||||
| Marconi haunts Coltano by Larry McCaskill An important site since the beginning of radio communication, the Coltano area in Italy is the hub of the 509th Signal Battalion's far flung strategic communications mission. According to research, the Coltano area was first utilized as a signal site by Guglielmo Marconi, the pioneering communicator, in the early 1900s. After numerous successful experiments in the wireless radio field in England, Marconi was able to convince the Italian Minister of Telegraph and Post Office to construct a radio station in the Coltano area. After surveying different areas, Marconi decided on Coltano because of its location, the surrounding terrain and its ability to easily receive and transmit radio signals. With his radio antennas and nets firmly in place, Marconi transmitted signals to Canada and Ireland. Days later, Marconi sent out a series of messages to New York through a radio station in Canada. One message said, "Best regards from Italy to America by wireless telegraph. Gughelmo Marconi." |
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| During World War II the Coltano area switched from being an experiment in radio communication to being a strategic military site. With smaller antennas than those used by Marconi, the German Army came in and used the area as its central communication center for the Mediterranean theater. Realizing the importance of the area, Germans set-up a complicated line of defense. Mines and booby traps lined the surrounding area and other areas of security were beefed up as well. As the allied army moved in, the area and ports were swept for mines. Amidst the bombings, air raids and fighting, the Coltano area was heavily damaged and evacuated. Today the Coltano Signal Station houses the heart of communications for the 509th Signal Battalion. A natural antenna "The Coltano area is just a natural antenna. With mountains on three sides and the sea to the west, we form the shape of a bowl or a dish similar to our satellite antennas," says CW2 Dale Ellenbarger, officer in charge at the Coltano Automatic Switching Center (ASC). According to Efenbarger, the shape of the area enables the signals to bounce off the mountains and down to the antennas. "Marconi recognized that fact when he first built his station. The terrain features helped him in transmitting signals to the continents of North America, Africa and Europe via radio signals. When Marconi first began his experiments at Coltano, radio communication was in its infancy so it proved to be the test bed for the entire world of radio communication," says Ellenbarger. According to Elltenbarger, the Coltano ASC was completed in 1968 and was manned by the Philco-Ford Corporation. In 1969 the Army accepted the responsibility of providing manpower for the station. Three phases According to Ellenbarger, the Coltano complex was built in three phases. First, the 13/9L terminal was built, where a 250 line AUTOVON network switching center is maintained and operated. It also houses the associated technical control center facility. Next, the ASC was constructed, followed by the AN/GSC 39 satellite earth terminal. Because of its mission and high visibility, Coltano is visited by many dignitaries. "We have had visits by Secretary of the Army, John O. Marsh, Jr.; former Army Chief of Staff, General Edward C. Meyer; Commander in Chief Europe Gen. Glenn K. Otis and Maj. Gen. Leo M. Childs, former commanding general of the 5th Signal Command," says Ellenbarger. "This is a high visibility job. All the people who work out here enjoy that. They get an extra sense of pride knowing that their work is being noticed. We maintain a high standard of operating procedures so that we always shine." In honor of Marconi, the U.S. Army erected a monument at the Coltano site in memory of his achievements. A plaque on the monument reads. . . "In memory of Guglielmo Marconi: who near this site on 21 November 1911 linked the continents of Europe, North America and Africa by mean's of wireless communications, thus establishing Coltano as a focal point in the development of worldwide communications." |
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1945 Three POW camps were established in April on the Coltano estate. They were known collectively as The Disciplinary Training Center and individually as PWE 336, 337, and 338. The camps housed German Nazi and Italians sympathetic to Mussolini. Famous poet Ezra Pound was interned here briefly before being extradited to the U.S.