The 489th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), or unit crest, was approved on 1 May 1956. “Au For Du Combat,” the unit motto displayed on the insignia, is Latin for “In The Thick Of The Fight.” Red and white are the colors used exclusively for the insignia, denoting the organization’s status as part of the Corps of Engineers, with a white pile in the center serving as an emblem of the function of Military Engineers. Two red piles charged with an escallop represent the Battalion’s participation in two World War II campaigns (Western Pacific and Ryukyus) in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.Distinctive Unit Insignias are 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. Enlisted personnel wear the insignia centered on a shoulder loop by placing it an equal distance from the outside shoulder seam to the outside edge of the shoulder-loop button. Officers (except Generals) wearing grade insignia on the shoulder loops center the DUI by placing it an equal distance between the inside edge of the grade insignia and the outside edge of the button.
More 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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The 489th Engineer Battalion is an Army Reserve unit that was originally constituted in the Army of the United States as 1st Battalion, 367th Engineers on 10 June 1942 and activated twenty days later. It was reorganized and redesignated on 26 April 1944 as the 1398th Engineer Construction Battalion and would serve under that title until inactivation in February 1946, taking part in two Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns and earning a Meritorious Unit Commendation.
Allotted to the Organized Reserves (known as the Army Reserve after 1952) a year after inactivation, it was activated on 6 March 1947 and New Orleans. On 3 June 1948, it was redesignated it was redesignated under its current numerical designation as the 489th Engineer Construction Battalion, then as a Engineer Combat Battalion in December 1948 before being inactivated on 6 October 1950. It was given its current designation on 8 February 1955. It HQ location changed on 1 January 1966 to Little Rock, Arkansas, then to North Little Rock, Arkansas in 1989.
Since that time, it has been called into Federal service once for active military duty, from February 2003 to June 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Battalion’s heroism and courage while assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division during that deployment was recognized with its selection for a Valorous Unit Award that was announced in Permanent Orders 050-06 published 19 February 2008.
As of Autumn 2023, the 489th Engineer Battalion remains allotted to the U.S. Army Reserve. It is headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas and is a subordinate unit of the 420th Engineer Brigade, 416th Theater Engineer Command.