" The Battle of Ardennes" did it. You call it "The Bulge" or "The Breakthrough".
 It means the story of days already history that were days of work, of movement
 and ceaseless work, days that sometimes left you a bit scared when there was
 time to think. Then the men were separated from the boys. And in one Signal outfit,
 they were all men. That was the 40th Signal Construction Battalion. 

But no one knew that back in September of 1942. No one knew that the new outfit
then forming would have a proud string of "firsts" to its credit and a history of
difficult jobs well done in the defeat of Nazidom. Not too many know it know. But 
some of those who do are generals and such people who have access to all the facts.


The War Department activated the Battalion on 21 September 1942 and then used a
good army formula to give it body. They picked Camp Campbell, Kentucky, in which 
to mix fifty cadre-men from the 29th Signal Construction Battalion and selectees from
Fort Dix, Fort Sam Houston, and Camp Robinson. The officers transferred from other
 outfits , from civilian communication posts, and from OCS. 

The men thought that they would never forget those early days. There are little things
to remember; the dates, the drunks, the games. One day they will not remember for 
sure. That's the day they actually became soldiers. Because that happened gradually,
through day after day of class and drill and a lot of what seemed like damned useless
work. Of course, there was some time to relax around the PX, shows, a Saturday 
night of Hoptown.

Major  WJ Merrigan commanded a bunch of men until one day, perhaps it was on 
Tennessee manoeuvres, he discovered he had a bunch of soldiers. And it was not
a group that Major McNeal. took overseas but a battalion. The organisation now lived
a life of its own. And then men that made it could be proud to belong.

This then, is a story of a battalion.