Walkie Talkie & Cell Phones

35 pound Handy Talkie, WW 2.
National Archives and Records Administration.
Still Picture Branch; College Park, Maryland.

The small two-way radios used by policeman, firemen and civilians throughout the world were developed by the US Army Material Command’s Fort Monmouth Laboratories to facilitate battlefield communications. The original design was large and cumbersome and had to be carried about by backpack. As electronic technology advanced the units became more compact than the early handie-talkie and can be very small today.

Pallets of C-rations provide backrests for field radio operators during Operation Urgent Fury.
Base: Grenville. Country: Grenada. 10/25/1983.
Photo: Sergeant Michael Bogdanowicz. (Cropped.)
Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Imaging Command.
National Archives and Records Administration.
Still Picture Branch; College Park, Maryland.

Pallets of C-rations provide backrests for field radio operators during Operation Urgent Fury.
Base: Grenville. Country: Grenada. 10/25/1983.
Photo: Sergeant Michael Bogdanowicz. (Cropped.)
Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Imaging Command.
National Archives and Records Administration.
Still Picture Branch; College Park, Maryland.