Commonly called a unit crest or DUI for short, the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 119th Field Artillery Regiment was approved on 17 April 1925. It was redesignated for the 119th Artillery Regiment, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), on 2 September 1960. It was given its current designation on 11 July 1972.
In the shield portion of the insignia, the arms of Lorraine are displayed in the canton (upper-left inset) to denote the unit’s baptism by fire in Toul Sector during World War I. Beside it is the silver badge worn by the 2nd Division, I Corps during the Spanish-American War. The lower portion of the shield displays a lion issuant taken from Ponce de Leon’s crest because the district around El Paso, Texas—where the unit was deployed for border service with Mexico—was once called Ponce de Leon’s Ranch. VIAM PRAEPARAMUS, the unit motto, is Latin for “We Prepare The Way.”
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. 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.
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On 6 November 1911, existing units in the Michigan National Guard—some with lineages extending back to Civil War service—were organized to form the 1st Battalion Field Artillery, the progenitor of today’s 119th Field Artillery Regiment, Michigan Army National guard. Two of its batteries were mustered into Federal service to serve along the Mexican border on 19 June 1916 and were mustered out the following March. The Battalion was drafted into Federal service in August 1917 and was reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery. As an element of the 32nd Division, it would fight in six major campaigns in World War I and earn a French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star.
It was reorganized as 119th Field Artillery, a regiment assigned to the 32nd Division in 1921-1922 and would be drafted into Federal service again for World War II in April 1941, but in February 1943 the Regiment was broken up: its HQ and HQ Battery became the 119th Field Artillery Group and its battalions were numerically redesignated as the 978th and 979th. These units would end up earning the Regiment battle honors for five World War II campaigns, and would eventually be reunited through various organizational changes with the creation of the 119th Artillery in March 1959.
It was redesignated as the 119th Field Artillery in 1972, withdrawn from CARS in 1987 and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System, and in 2003 redesignated as the 119th Field Artillery Regiment to consist of the 1st Battalion, an element of the 42nd Infantry Division. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, part of its HQ Battery was deployed to Guantanamo Bay (2003) and Abu Ghraib, where it served as guards and security forces; at Abu Ghraib, it set a record for processing more than 20,000 detainees in a single year.
As of Summer 2023, the 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery Regiment is currently under state control in Michigan and is headquartered in Lansing.