U.S. ARMY 112TH ENGINEER BATTALION UNIT CREST (DUI)

The 112th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia—a device often called a unit crest or DUI—was approved on 26 September 1925. It was subsequently redesignated for the 112th Engineer Combat on 30 April 1945, and redesignated for the final time for the current unit title on 4 January 1965. The unit motto, BELLO AC PACE PARATUS, is a Latin phrase that roughly translates as “Ready During War And Peace.” You can read about the symbolism of the insignia at The Institute of Heraldry, while full 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.

Organized 18 September 1837 at Cleveland, Ohio as the Cleveland Grays (the unit’s official nickname), the unit was reorganized in August 1861 as Company A, 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment and mustered into Federal service, serving in eight Civil War campaigns before being mustered out of Federal service 15 August 1864. Drafted into Federal service 5 August 1917 as the 1st Engineer Regiment, the unit was reorganized and redesignated as the 112th Engineer Regiment on 15 September 1917. Assigned to the 37th Division, the Regiment earned battle honors for three campaigns—Ypres-Lys, Meuse-Argonne, and Lorraine 1918. Additionally, the Regiment’s Headquarters Company was individually credited for action in the Alsace 1918 campaign and was awarded a French Croix de Guerre with Palm embroidered MEUSE-ARGONNE.

On 15 October 1940, the unit was inducted into Federal service as the 112th Engineer Regiment, an element of the 37th Division. Beginning in January 1942, however, the unit was broken up twice over the course of just fourteen month, with the entire Regiment being redesignated as a Battalion and its Battalions renumbered and reassigned. The units that remained in the Battalion’s lineage are credited with participation in five World War II campaigns om the European theater, with an Arrowhead device for one the Normandy campaign (the Battalion was also awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for its courageous actions on D-Day). The Headquarters Company, serving in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, took part in the Northern Solomons and Luzon campaigns, earning an Arrowhead device and a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for the latter action.

Following World War II, the Battalion—now designated as the 112th Combat Engineer Battalion and still an element of the 27th Division—was ordered into active Federal service in January 1952 and redesignated as the 112th Engineer Battalion in May 1953. In January 1954, the 112th Engineer Battalion, National Guard of the United States (NGUS) was organized and Federally recognized with HQ at Cleveland, and in June the 112th Engineer Battalion was released from Federal service and reverted to state control, with Federal recognition simultaneously withdrawn from the 112th Engineer Battalion (NGUS).

Relieved from assignment to the 37th Infantry Division in 1968, it was subsequently assigned to the 38th Infantry Division from September 1999 to September 2007; during that time it spent two years on active Federal duty. Called into service in 2010, the Battalion was honored with a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its support of the War on Terrorism from 5 September 2010 to 25 June 2011.

Currently, 112th Engineer Battalion remains an active unit in the Ohio Army National Guard and is stationed at Brook Park, its home since 1985.