Book excerpt: The 50th Signal Battalion was activated July 1, 1940, at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, not long before the United States was drawn into World War II. In September of 1941, a portion of the Battalion was sent to Iceland, followed by the rest in January of 1942 in order to build a communications infrastructure for Iceland Base Command on the island. Upon completion of that assignment, the Battalion was sent to England to prepare for the invasion of continental Europe. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Battalion landed on Utah Beach in support of VII Corp and its assigned units, which continued until the end of the war in Europe. Much of the information and many of the photographs contained in this book came from meeting or conversing over the phone with World War II veterans of the 50th Signal Battalion or the surviving members of their families.