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The history of the ANGLICO units dates back to the formation of Joint Assault Signals Company (JASCO) units who fought in the Pacific theater of World War II. At the time, the JASCO units were used to coordinate air, artillery and naval gunfire support between the Marines, Army and US Navy during the Pacific "island hopping" campaign. The most famous JASCO Unit is the 594th, for its actions during the Battle of Okinawa (1945) and the Philippines campaign (1944-45). Following the reorganization of the U.S. Armed Forces under the Department of Defense in 1947, the JASCO units were disbanded and their responsibility transferred to the US Navy. In 1949, the Marine Corps began the process of recreating the JASCO capability under the new ANGLICO designation. ANGLICO, 2d Signals Battalion, 2d Marine Division, was formed in December, 1949 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 1st Marine Division formed a similar unit at the same time, designated ANGLICO, 1st Signal Battalion, 1st Marine Division. A third unit, 1st ANGLICO, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, was activated on 2 March 1951 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The original ANGLICOs, created in both 1st Marine Division and 2d Marine Division in December, 1949, continued to exist and serve in combat throughout 1950 and 1951 in the Korean War. These were the first ANGLICO units to stand up and serve in combat. Teams from these units served in combat attached to USMC battalions, Korean Marine battalions, and US Army units. These ANGLICOs were entirely separate from the numbered ANGLICOs which first stood up in Hawaii in 1951, and predate those units by over a year.
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