The 35th Division Artillery Distinctive Unit Insignia, often called a unit crest or DUI for short, consists solely of a sunflower on a gold-bordered scarlet shield. Scarlet is the branch color of Artillery, and the sunflower is the state flower of Kansas, the unit’s home state where it served in the Kansas Army National Guard.
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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The 35th Infantry Division Artillery was originally organized on 13 July 1917 in the Kansas National Guard as the 1st Field artillery. On 1 October 1917 it was reorganized and redesignated as the 130th Field Artillery, assigned to the 35th Division, and deployed to France. It earned battle honors for three campaigns (Meise-Argonne, Alsace 1918, and Lorraine 1918) while serving with the 35th Division and was subsequently demobilized in May 1919.
It was reorganized between July 1920 and April 1922 as a Kansas National Guard unit, the 1st Field Artillery, and redesignated 4 November 1921 as the 130th Field Artillery and assigned again to the 35th Division; its Headquarters were Federally recognized on 18 April 1922. Inducted into Federal service in December 1940, the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB), 130th Field Artillery were disbanded on 3 February 1942, with the rest of the regiment beginning separate lineages at this point.
On 25 August 1945, the Headquarters Battery, 130th Field Artillery was reconstituted in the Kansas National Guard and then redesignated as HHB, 130th Field Artillery Group on 22 June 1946. The Group was called into active Federal from 11 September 1950 until 25 July 1952, when it reverted to state control. It was redesignated in May 1959 as HHB, 130th Artillery Group, then in 1972 it became HHB, 130th Field Artillery Group. It was redesignated as HHB, 130th Field Artillery Brigade in September 1978 and then, in October 1985, it finally was named HHB, 35th Infantry Division Artillery when the 35th Infantry Division was activated.
After all those changes, the unit served under the 35th Infantry Division Artillery designation for just a dozen years before the 130th Field Artillery Brigade was reconstituted in 1997 and given a new insignia (although it too has a sunflower). Ironically, the 35th Division Artillery Distinctive Unit Insignia was not approved until 2000, three years after the unit had been given its new/old designation.