The Signal Corps Band (officially the 434th Army Band) was a

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

maintained by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and associated with the

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for creating and managing Military communications, communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was ...

. It was activated in 1943 as the band of the 4th Engineer Amphibian Brigade and was posted to

Fort Gordon, Georgia Fort Gordon, formerly known as Fort Eisenhower and Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established southwest of Augusta, Georgia in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cy ...

, for most of its existence. The band was inactivated in 2016. The Signal Corps Band did not share a common lineage with an identically named unit active from 1930 to 1944.

History

Predecessor unit

The band of the 13th Cavalry Regiment was organized in 1901. In 1916 it saw action in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

at the Battle of Columbus where it became separated from the rest of the regiment and had to engage

Villistas Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...

armed only with pistols, during which three bandsmen were killed in action. Inactivated in 1930, its equipment and personnel were reorganized as the newly activated Signal Corps Band. In 1941 Edward Matlack, great-great grandson of Timothy Matlack, the scribe of the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

and Secretary of the Supreme Council of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, was among the Signal Corps Band's personnel. The band was inactivated in 1944 and its equipment and personnel used to form the 389th Army Band, which was later given the special designation Army Materiel Command Band before being inactivated in 2018.

Modern unit

The Signal Corps Band, officially known as the 434th Army Band, was activated in February 1943 within the

Army of the United States The Army of the United States was one of the four major service components of the United States Army. Today, the Army consists of the Regular Army, the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army National Guard while in the service of the ...

as the band of the 4th Engineer Amphibian Brigade at

Fort Devens, Massachusetts Fort Devens is a United States Army Reserve military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Due to extensive environmental contamination it was l ...

. In 1944 it was redesignated the 434th Army Service Forces Band, before being inactivated two years later. In 1955 it was reactivated within the regular United States Army at Fort Gordon, Georgia and redesignated as the 434th Army Band. In 1985 it received the special designation "United States Army Signal Corps Band" commonly rendered as "Signal Corps Band". In 2013 the Army announced the band would be inactivated within three years. It was inactivated in October 2016, and its colors were cased and transferred to the

Center for Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

for storage. Its last Commander was CW4 Scott MacDonald. Twelve musicians formerly with the band were retained on-post at Fort Gordon but formally assigned to the 282nd Army Band at

Fort Jackson, South Carolina Fort Jackson is a United States Army installation, which TRADOC operates on for Basic Combat Training (BCT), and is located within the city of Columbia, South Carolina. This installation is named for Andrew Jackson, a United States Army gene ...

Notable performances

The band went on notable concert tours of the southeast United States in 2004 and 2005 performing for audiences numbering in the thousands. In 2011 the Signal Corps Band's jazz ensemble performed in concert with

Wycliffe Gordon Wycliffe A. Gordon (born May 29, 1967) is an American jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. Gordon also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano ...

. In 2014 the Signal Corps Band performed a concert for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion in Augusta, GA. In 2015, the Band performed for packed houses at the Ft. Gordon Dinner theatre in a tribute to Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday.

Organization

As of 2008, the Signal Corps Band had 35 personnel assigned to it.

References