Approved on 10 October 1941, the 56th Signal Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia (also known as a unit crest or DUI for short) features a shield rendered in orange and white (silver), branch colors of the Signal Corps, with black charges on a silver bend. The shield is above black scroll with the unit motto of DEBIT VERBUM TRANSIRE in silver letters; the English translation is “The Message Must Go Through.” Three black pellets and a billet charging the bend simulate the letter “V” in Morse code and are emblematic of Communication functions, while also recalling the “V for Victory” sign made popular by Winston Churchill at the time the insignia was approved. The crest is the head of Mercury, messenger of the Gods in Roman mythology.
The Distinctive Unit Insignia is worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. It is worn centered on the shoulder loops of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU) and the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU, Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The 56th Signal Battalion was constituted in the Regular Army under that designation—the only one it has ever held—on 18 October 1927. Activated 1 February 1941 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the Battalion took part in the landings at Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944, earning an Arrowhead device for its Normandy campaign streamer. The Battalion would go on to take part in four more campaigns before it was inactivated in March 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, earning a Meritorious Unit Commendation for service in the European Theater in the process.
The Battalion was reactivated on 16 October 1991 in Panama when the 190th Signal Battalion (Provisional) was redesignated as the 56th Signal Battalion, providing important strategic base communications between United States Southern Command organizations and installations. In 1999, it relocated to Puerto Rico where it was tasked with providing tactical, long-haul, and base-operations communications support to U.S. Army South HQ and units deployed in South and Central America. Fours later, it relocated to Fort Eisenhower (previously known as Fort Gordon) in Georgia after establishing a detachment with U.S. Army South in its new garrison at Fort Sam Houston in Texas; the Battalion wound end up relocating there in 2011.
More recently, in 2015 the Battalion stood up five new Commanding General Communications Teams supporting U.S. Army North, U.S. Army Central, U.S. Army Cyber, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the U.S. Army Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. As of 2019, the Battalion has elements permanently stationed in five states and across three countries.
As of Summer 2023, the 56th Signal Battalion is assigned to the 21st Signal Brigade and is headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, one of the component installations that make up Joint Base San Antonio in Texas.