Key to Command: The WWII Journey of the 50th Signal Battalion from Iceland to Germany with Exercise Tiger, D-Day, The Bulge, and Nordhousen Along the Way

Michael Godbout

ISBN 10: 1643073303 / ISBN 13: 9781643073309

Published by Mascot Books, 2021

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Key to Command: The WWII Journey of the 50th Signal Battalion from Iceland to Germany with Exercise Tiger, D-Day, The Bulge, and Nordhousen Along the Way
• Publisher: Mascot Books
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1643073303
• ISBN 13: 9781643073309
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: very_good

About this title

Synopsis

Military Writers Society of America 2022 Bronze Award Winner

There are hundreds of history books that recount the US Army’s participation in World War II, but there are very few that tell the story as it was seen through the eyes of the Signal Soldier. Michael Godbout brings months and years to life through this vivid narrative of the 50th Signal Battalion’s service during the period of its activation from 1940 to 1945. Through extensive research and interviews with veterans, the author is able to recount the unit’s history through an amazing series of photographs and firsthand accounts. 

More than anything, Key to Command is a history about soldiers, about men who sacrificed and risked their lives to defend their country against an enemy determined to destroy it.

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.

About the Author

Born in Heidelberg, Germany, to military parents, he grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. with an intense interest in World War II military history. A graduate of George Mason University and a veteran of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, he retired a fire station captain in 2001 after twenty-six years of service. In 1992, he began combing through the Nation Archives, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, the National Personnel Records Center, and many other military records depositories throughout the country in order to plan a trip for his father back to Normandy for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day in 1994. The trip was to follow the route of the 50th Signal Battalion from England to Germany. Following the trip, the research expanded to cover the years 1940 through 1945, resulting in this book. He plans to spend his retirement time between coastal Maine and coastal North Carolina, where the research will continue.