The 125th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (commonly referred to as a DUI or unit crest) was approved on 13 March 1952. In the upper left, a palm tree commemorates the unit’s service at Santiago during the War With Spain. Eleven mullets (stars) running along the border of the chevron represent the campaigns the unit’s predecessor fought during the Civil War for the Union Army, and a crowned lion beneath them is taken from the arms of Hesse to recall the organization’s crossing the border into Germany during World War I. “Yield To None” is the Regimental 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. 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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Although nicknamed “Third Michigan” in honor of the creation of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, Michigan State Troops in 1876, the history of the 125th Infantry Regiment goes back almost twenty years to the organization of the East Saginaw Guards on 24 December 1857. Redesignated as the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the unit (and others with which it had been consolidated) would go on to fight in at least eleven Civil War campaigns (the U.S. Army Center of Military History’s lineage and history page for the Regimen lists a dozen campaigns).
As with any unit formed in the mid-19th century, the 125th Infantry Regiment’s history is chock-a-block with so many redesignations/reorganizations/consolidations that it can be dizzying trying to track every change. When the 3rd Infantry Regiment was mustered into Federal service for the War With Spain, it was redesignated as 33rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry; for its service along the Mexican border in 1916, it had been redesignated as simply the 33rd Infantry. 30 September 1917 marked the date that it became the 125th Infantry Regiment and was assigned to the 32nd Division; it would end up fighting in four campaigns during World War I (Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, Meuse-Argonne, Alsace 1918) and earn a French Croix de Guerre with Palm for its actions at Oise-Aisne.
The Regiment as a whole did not earn any campaign credits for World War II or the Korean War, but Company A of its current 1st Battalion is individually credited with four European Theater campaigns (Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe) and eight campaigns in Korea; it also was individually decorated with a French Croix de Guerre with Palm for World War I and Meritorious Unit Commendations for World War II and Korea (one each).
In the War on Terror, the Regiment was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its Support of Operation Enduring Freedom between January and September 2012. In addition, several of its companies received individual awards for earlier deployments to the region. Company A, 1st Battalion received a Meritorious Unit Commendation embroidered IRAQ 2004; Company B, 1st Battalion was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation embroidered ANBAR PROVINCE FEB-JUN 2006; and Company D was tapped for a Meritorious Unit Commendation for service in Iraq from September 2006 to August 2007.
As of Summer 2023, the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment remains an active unit in the Michigan Army National Guard. In addition to its HHC and an attached Support Company, the Battalion comprises a total of four Companies, A-D, stationed in the Michigan cities of Detroit, Saginaw, Wyoming, and Big Rapids.