The 112th Military Police Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia—often called a unit crest, or a DUI for short—was approved on 13 December 1968. The badge or shield portion of the insignia is an arrowhead, divided into red and blue halves; both it and the spearhead are references to the Arrowhead device on the Battalion’s New Guinea campaign streamer for participation in an assault landing. A pair of crossed barongs are an allusion to service in the Philippines, where the leaf-shaped blades were a favored weapon of the Moro insurrectionists. Red, blue, and white are the colors of the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation the unit was awarded in World War II. Blue also recalls the Distinguished Unit Citation the Battalion received. The green of the spear is the primary color of the Military Police branch, and the upright orientation is a sign of the combat capabilities of the unit. “Guardians Of Honor” is the unit motto.
Distinctive Unit Insignias is 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. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
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First organized in April 1917 as an Engineer Company, the 112th Military Police Battalion would not be known by that title for nearly fifty years after it was drafted into Federal service on 5 August 1917 and subsequently reorganized and redesignated as Company A, 114th Engineer Regiment, an element of the 39th Division on 27 September 1917. The 39th Division was designated as the 5th Depot Division, which parceled out replacement troops up and down the front lines; these Divisions usually received an uninscribed World War I streamer, but according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the 114th Regiment was credited with the Meuse-Argonne campaign. It was demobilized at Camp Shelby, Mississippi on 21 May 1919.
When it was called into service during World War II, the unit had been redesignated as the 106th Engineer Regiment and was assigned to the 31st Division (31st Infantry Division after February 1942). Before it could be deployed to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, it had been redesignated twice more, first as just a Battalion (the 106th Engineer Regiment), then as a Battalion with a new description (106th Engineer Combat Battalion). It would serve in two campaigns, taking part in the assault landing at New Guinea and serving in the Southern Philippines; its service was recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation and a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.
By the time the unit saw action again in the First Gulf War, it had been redesignated from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 114th Engineer Battalion to Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 112th Military Police Battalion. It would serve in all three campaigns in the Southwest Asia conflict before being released from active Federal service 27 May 1991 and reverted to state control in the Mississippi Army National Guard.
Currently, the 112th Military Police Battalion is based at Canton, Mississippi and commands two subordinate units, the 113th and 114th Military Police Companies.