The 156th Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia—commonly called a “unit crest” or a DUI for short—was originally approved for the 156th Field Artillery Regiment on 24 April 1936. Over the next four-and-a-half decades, it would be redesignated several times: in 1942 for the 156th Field Artillery Battalion, in 1955 for the 156th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, in 1962 for the 156th Artillery Regiment, and in 1972 for the 156th Field Artillery Regiment. It was last amended to revise the symbolism in October 1980.
A wavy bend (diagonal line) divides the shield portion of the insignia into red and blue areas, with blue denoting the Regiment’s origins as an Infantry unit and red denoting its service in the Field Artillery branch. A taro leaf and a fleur-de-lis in the blue portion stands for Spanish-American War service in Hawaii and service in France during both World Wars, respectively. The red cross of St. George and blue saltire (“x”) in the canton (inset in upper left) are for service rendered by predecessor component units in the Revolutionary War and Civil War. SEMPER PROCEDAMUS is Latin for “Ever Onward.”
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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Proudly carrying the official Special Designation “First New York,” the 156th Field Artillery Regiment’s 106-year history began in 1898 with the constitution of the 12th and 17th Battalions in the New York National Guard and their organization from existing companies in eastern New York. They were subsequently consolidated with the 10th Battalion on 27 April 1898 to form the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry. (The 10th and other existing companies brought the honors from their lineages with them, crediting them individually with participation in Revolutionary War campaigns and Civil War campaigns; full details on campaign credits and military decoration of the Regiment’s subsequent component batteries are found on p. 1205 of the compendium
Field Artillery Part 2 in the Army Lineage Series found
here.)
Designated as the 1st Infantry Regiment when it was drafted into Federal service on 5 August 1917, the unit was reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Pioneer Infantry on 4 January 1918. Its service earned the Regiment three World War I campaign streamers, but several batteries of the 1st Battalion (from the iteration of the Regiment formed under the U.S. Army Regimental System in 1989) earned individual battle honors for St. Mihiel (HQ Battery and Battery A) and the Somme Offensive, Ypres-Lys, and Flanders 1918 (Battery C).
After a three-year stint (1921-1924) as the 132nd Ammunition Train, the unit was converted and redesignated as the 156th Field Artillery on 17 April 1924. Follwing induction into Federal service in 1940, the Regiment was broken up in February 1942, with its HQ and HQ Battery disbanded and the 1st and 2nd Battalions redesignated as the 156th and 170th Field artillery Battalions, elements of the 44th Infantry Division. Both battalions would undergo several redesignations and reorganizations over the next quarter century before they were consolidated while designated as regiments to form the 156th Artillery in February 1968, consisting of the 1st Battalion, an element of the 50th Armored Division. During that interim, they took part in four World War II campaigns that were credited to the entire Regiment. (Battery C was individually credited with four campaigns in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater).
It was redesignated as the 156th Field Artillery on 1 May 1972, and in April 1975 it was reorganized so that the 1st Battalion was no longer an element of the 50th Armored. A 1986 reorganization saw the 1st Battalion made an element of the 27th Infantry Brigade, and in 1988 it was withdrawn from the Combat Arms Regimental System. In 2004, the 1st Battalion’s three Regiments—HQ, A, and B—were consolidated to create the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 104th Military Police Battalion, with a unit crest that borrows quite heavily from the 156th Field Artillery Regiment DUI.