The 501st Signal Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, more commonly called a unit crest or a DUI, was originally approved for the 501st Airborne Signal Battalion and was subsequently redesignated for the 501st Signal Battalion on 26 March 1958. Crafted in the official Signal Corps branch colors of orange and white (silver), the insignia features a silver shield with an orange chevron containing a pelican feather upon which is mounted a lightning flash.
The flash is commonly used to denote the speed of modern Signal technology, and its placement on a pelican feather recalls the state of Louisiana, home of the site where the unit’s predecessor, the 501st Airborne Signal Battalion, was activated in August 1942. Typically a sign of support, the chevron on this insignia is also a reference to the unit’s participation in the assault landings at Normandy on D-Day. VOX AQUILAE, the unit motto, is Latin for the "Voice Of The Eagle."
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e),
"Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.
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Inactivated since 2004, the 501st Signal Battalion was originally constituted as the 626th Field Signal Battalion and assigned to the 101st Division in July 1918, too late for it to organize and deploy to France before the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 2018. It was reconstituted and organized in the Organized Reserves in 1921, but in August 1942 it was withdrawn from the Reserves and allotted to the Army of the United States.
Reorganized as the 101st Airborne Signal Company, the unit took part in four campaigns in the European Theater, earning Arrowhead devices for its participation in Airborne assaults at Normandy and during the Rhineland campaign and a pair of Presidential Unit Citations inscribed NORMANDY and BASTOGNE.
It was also the recipient of several military decorations from Allied nations, including a Frenc Croix de Guerre with Palm, a Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm, a Belgian Fourragere for two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgium Army (the Battalion actually was cited twice), and a Netherlands Orange Lanyard.
Redesignated and reorganized in July 1956 as the HQ, HQ and Service Detachment, 501st Airborne Signal Battalion, and element of the 101st Airborne Division, the unit was augmented with the addition of the 516th Signal Company and 299th Signal Company, redesignated as the Operations Company and Installation Company respectively. It was given its final designation of 501st Signal Battalion on 25 April 1957, with the Operations and Installation Companies redesignated as the Battalion’s A and B Companies.
The Battalion fought in a dozen campaigns in the Vietnam Conflict, earning a Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Republic of Vietnam (ROV) Cross of Gallantry with Palm awards for service between 1968 and 1971, and an ROV Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class (1968 to 1970. (Company B was selected individually for another ROV Cross of Gallantry with Palm for 1968 service).
During the First Gulf War of 1990-1991, the Battalion took part in the Defense of Saudi Arabia and the Liberation and Defense of Kuwait. Its final tour of duty came in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where its service was recognized with a Meritorious Unit Commendation which was announced in 2007, roughly three years after the Battalion had been inactivated as part of the Army’s transformation to a modular, Brigade-centric structure.
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