_Received_ ___________________________________________________________
The heading "From" is filled in with the _name_ of the detachment sending the information: as "Officer"s Patrol, 7th Cav." Messages sent on the same day from the same source to the same person are numbered consecutively. The address is written briefly, thus: "Commanding officer, Outpost, 1st Brigade." In the signature the writer"s surname only and rank are given.
This blank is four and a half by six and three-quarters inches, including the margin on the left for binding. The back is ruled in squares, the side of each square representing 100 yards on a scale of 3 inches to one mile, for use in making simple sketches explanatory, of the message. It is issued by the Signal Corps in blocks of forty with duplicating sheets. The regulation envelope is three by five and one-fourth inches and is printed as follows:
UNITED STATES ARMY FIELD MESSAGE.
_To_ ___________________________________________ _No_ ________________ (For signal operator only.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _When sent_ __________________________________________ _No_ __________ _Rate of speed_ ______________________________________________________ _Name of messenger_ __________________________________________________ _When and by whom rec"d_ _____________________________________________ =This Envelope will be Returned to Bearer.=
CHAPTER XII.
SIGNALS AND CODES.
(Extracts from Signal Book, United States Army, 1916.)
=General Instructions for Army Signaling.=
=1.= Each signal station will have its call, consisting of one or two letters, as Washington, "W"; and each operator or signalist will also have his personal signal of one or two letters, as Jones, "Jo." These being once adopted will not be changed without due authority.
=2.= To lessen liability of error, numerals which occur in the body of a message should be spelled out.
=3.= In receiving a message the man at the telescope should call out each letter as received, and not wait for the completion of a word.
=4.= A record of the date and time of the receipt or transmission of every message must be kept.
=5.= The duplicate ma.n.u.script of messages received at, or the original sent from, a station should be carefully filed.
=6.= In receiving messages nothing should be taken for granted, and nothing considered as seen until it has been positively and clearly in view. Do not antic.i.p.ate what will follow from signals already given.
Watch the communicating station until the last signals are made, and be very certain that the signal for the end of the message has been given.
=7.= Every address must contain at least two words and should be sufficient to secure delivery.
=8.= All that the sender writes for transmission after the word "To"
is counted.
=9.= Whenever more than one signature is attached to a message count all initials and names as a part of the message.
=10.= Dictionary words, initial letters, surnames of persons, names of cities, towns, villages, States, and Territories, or names of the Canadian Provinces will be counted each as one word; e.g., New York, District of Columbia, East St. Louis should each be counted as one word. The abbreviation of the names of cities, towns, villages, States, Territories, and provinces will be counted the same as if written in full.
=11.= Abbreviations of weights and measures in common use, figures, decimal points, bars of division, and in ordinal numbers the affixes "st," "d," "nd," "rd," and "th" will be each counted as one word.
Letters and groups of letters, when such groups do not form dictionary words and are not combinations of dictionary words, will be counted at the rate of five letters or fraction of five letters to a word. When such groups are made up of combinations of dictionary words, each dictionary word so used will be counted.
=12.= The following are exceptions to paragraph 55, and are counted as shown:
A. M 1 word P. M 1 word O. K 1 word Per cent 1 word
=13.= No message will be considered sent until its receipt has been acknowledged by the receiving station.
=The International Morse or General Service Code.=
=18.= The International Morse Code is the General Service Code and is prescribed for use by the Army of the United States and between the Army and the Navy of the United States. It will be used on radio systems, submarine cables using siphon recorders, and with the heliograph, flash-lanterns, and all visual signaling apparatus using the wigwag.
_Alphabet._ A . -- B -- . . .
C -- . -- .
D -- . .
E .
F . . -- .
G -- -- .
H . . . .
I . .
J . -- -- -- K -- . -- L . -- . .
M -- -- N -- .
O -- -- -- P . -- -- .
Q -- -- . -- R . -- .
S . . .
T -- U . . -- V . . . -- W . -- -- X -- . . -- Y -- . -- -- Z -- -- . .
_Numerals._ 1 . -- -- -- -- 2 . . -- -- -- 3 . . . -- -- 4 . . . . -- 5 . . . . .
6 -- . . . .
7 -- -- . . .
8 -- -- -- . .
9 -- -- -- -- .
0 -- -- -- -- --
_Punctuation._
Period . . . . . .
Comma . -- . -- . -- Interrogation . . -- -- . .
Hyphen or dash -- . . . . -- Parenthesis (before and after the words) -- . -- -- . -- Quotation mark (beginning and ending) . -- . . -- .
Exclamation -- -- . . -- -- Apostrophe . -- -- -- .
Semicolon -- . -- . -- .
Colon -- -- -- . . .
Bar indicating fraction -- . . -- .
Underline (before and after the word or words it is wished to underline) . . -- -- . -- Double dash (between preamble and address, between address and body of message, between body of message and signature, and immediately before a fraction) -- . . . -- Cross . -- . -- .
=Visual Signaling: in General.=
=21.= Methods of visual signaling are divided as follows: