The 326th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a unit crest or a DUI, was originally approved on 21 May 1925 for the 326th Engineer Regiment. In March 1951 the insignia was redesignated for the 49th Airborne Engineer Battalion, followed seven years later by another redesignation for the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion. It was given its current designation for the 326th Engineer Battalion on 26 March 1958 and is today worn by personnel of the 326th Brigade Engineer Battalion of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
In the chief (upper third of shield) of the 326th Engineer Battalion DUI is a rendering of “Old Abe,” a bald eagle that was mascot of the Iron Brigade, First Corps, Army of the Potomac during the Civil War and whose likeness is used as the basis of the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 101st Airborne Division, or “Screaming Eagles.” The fess (horizontal band) is scarlet with white piping, the branch colors of the Corps of Engineers, and the eagle’s gold head on the blue field serves to incorporate the state flag of Wisconsin, home of the Iron Brigade. NOSTRUM EST, the unit motto inscribed in scarlet at the base of the insignia, is Latin for “The Task Is Ours.”
You can find guidance on wear of the DUI in DA Pamphlet 670-1, Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e), "Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Nicknamed “Sapper Eagles,” the 326th Engineer Battalion was originally constituted on 23 July 1918 as a Regiment, the 326th Engineers, in the National Army and assigned to the 101st Division, later the 101st Airborne—a relationship that continued almost unbroken until today. Only partially organized by the time World War I ended, the unit was demobilized on 11 December 1918 but was reconstituted in the Organized Reserves with the same title and numerical designation in 1921. The Regiment was broken up in March 1942, with the entire Regiment minus the 2nd Battalion reorganized as the 326th Engineer Battalion, withdrawn from the Organized Reserves on 15 August 1942, allotted to the Army of the United States, and redesignated as the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion.
Activated at Camp Claiborne in Louisiana, the Battalion fought in five World War II campaigns, earning Arrowhead devices for taking part in assault landings at Normandy and in the Rhineland campaign. Its medical decorations earned during those campaigns include two Presidential Unit Citations, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Netherlands Orange Lanyard, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm, and Belgian Fourragere for two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.
The Battalion would undergo a series of inactivations/activations and several redesignations over the dozen years following World War II before receiving its current designation on 25 April 1957. Still assigned to the 101st, the Battalion would take part in a dozen campaigns in Vietnam, earning two Republic of Vietnam (ROV) Cross of Gallantry with Palm awards and an ROV Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class. (Companies A, B, and C are entitled to additional decorations for their service in Vietnam, including the Valorous Unit Award (A and B), Presidential Unit Citation (A), Meritorious Unit Commendation (A and B), and the ROV Cross of Gallantry with Palm (A and C).
It would not see action again until the Southwest Asia conflict (First Gulf War), where it served in the Defense of Saudi Arabia and the Liberation and Defense of Kuwait campaigns and was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC). During the War on Terrorism, the Battalion earned a MUC for Iraqi service (2003-2004) before being briefly inactivated and relieved from assignment to the 101st Airborne. Reactivated in October 2006, it would go on to earn an MUC while assigned to the 111th Engineer Brigade (2007-2008) and another while operating independent in Iraq in 2011. In 2016, the Battalion’s relationship with the 101st Airborne was renewed when it was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.