The Infantry origins of the 312th Regiment are referenced with the white and blue used for the background of the shield portion of its Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), or unit crest: both colors have served as the official branch color for the Infantry, with white still in use at the start of the 20th century. A white, wavy fess (horizontal bar) on the shield stands for the Aire River in France, which was crossed by the unit on 16 October 1918 after heavy fighting.
This Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved for the 312th Infantry Regiment on 28 August 1930. It was redesignated for the 312th Regiment on 4 December 1959.
Three fleurs-de-lis in the blue portions denote two major operations and a defensive sector held by the organization. On the fess are four lozenges (diamond shapes) taken from the coat of arms of Sir George Carteret, a reference to the allocation of the Regiment to New Jersey. AU FEU TOUJOURS is the unit motto and is French for “Always At The Fire.”
Distinctive Unit Insignias are 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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Constituted on 5 August 1917 as the 312th Infantry in the National Army and assigned to the 78th Division, the 312th Regiment took part in three World War I campaigns before returning to the United States and being demobilized in 1919. Despite being reconstituted in June 1921 in the Organized Reserves and being assigned once again to the 78th Division, the Regiment did not see action during World War II. Instead it was first relieved from assignment to the 78th Division on 20 February 1942, then withdrawn from the Organized Reserves over a yar later on 2 April 1943.
At the same time, it was consolidated with the 312th Infantry (which had been constituted in May 1942 in the Army of the United States and assigned to the 107th Infantry Division) and the consolidated unit allotted to the Army of the United States as inactive; just under ten years later, the unit was disbanded on 14 March 42.
But it would be reconstituted, this time in the Army Reserve, as the 312th Regiment on 30 March 1959 and activated on 1 May 1959 as an element of the 78th Division (Training) with its Headquarters at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. The Regiment’s Battalions would remain elements of the 78th Training Division up until July 1973 when the 1st and 2nd Battalions were inactivated and relieved from assignment to the Division, but in October the Regiment was reorganized so that its 2nd and 3rd Battalions were again elements of the 78th Division.
That relationship finally ended in 2007 when the 2nd and 3rd Battalion were relieved from their assignment and 1st Battalion allotted to the Regular Army; in 2012, the Battalion was reduced to just 2 Battalions, the 2nd and 3rd, both of which earned three Army Superior Unit Awards in the first decade of the new millennium for their outstanding achievements as Training organizations. As of Autumn 2023, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions are assigned to the 174th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East and are stationed at Corapolis, Pennsylvania and Fort Meade, Maryland, respectively.