Approved on 8 August 1928, the design of the Distinctive Unit Insignia (also called a DUI or unit crest) of Headquarters, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division was inspired by the coat of arms of the two Infantry regiments that comprised the unit when it was organized as the 1st Infantry Brigade in June 1917.
The fleur-de-lis shape of the insignia is taken from the coat of arms of the 18th Infantry Regiment, which had used the fleur-de-lis from the coat of arms of Soissons, site of a decisive engagement during the French counterattack against the Germans during the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918. The pattern on the fleur-de-lis known as fur vair is similarly taken from the coat of arms of Fleville by the 18th Infantry Regiment for its arms; both regiments fought in area In October 1918.
Officially nicknamed “Devil Brigade” (not to be confused with the 1st Special Service Force, called the “Devil’s Brigade”), the Headquarters of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division received its current designation on 16 September 2009. At the same time, the Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division was split from the HQ, beginning its own separate lineage from that point on.