The 51st Signal Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, commonly called a unit crest or a DUI for short, was approved on 11 July 1926, with symbolic imagery emphasizing the unit’s service in World War I. Crafted in the Signal Corps branch colors of orange and white, the insignia has a bend dexter that is taken from the coats of arms of the villages of Lorraine and St. Mihiel to represent two of the unit’s campaigns. Four telegraph poles stand for the four engagements the unit fought in during World War I. SEMPER CONSTANS, the unit motto, is Latin for “Always Constant.”
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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."
Also called the 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion or 51st Signal Battalion (Expeditionary), the 51st Signal Battalion was originally designated as the 5th Telegraph Battalion, Signal Corps when it was constituted in the Regular Army on 1 July 1916 and activated a little over a year later on 12 July 1917 at Monmouth Park, New Jersey. Redesignated as the 55th Telegraph Battalion in October 1917, the Battalion would take part in three campaigns: Lorraine 1918, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne.
Unlike many Army units following the end of the war, the Battalion was not inactivated or demobilized upon returning to the U.S. Instead, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 51st Signal Battalion on 18 March 1921, a designation it would retain throughout World War II as it served in Sicily in Italy. In all, the Battalion was awarded five campaign streamers as part of Fifth Army, with one (Sicily) featuring an Arrowhead device denoting that it had taken part in an assault landing (and that it was planned to do so). It was also included in the Meritorious Unit Commendation Fifth Army received for service in the European Theater.
From 1950 to 1955, the unit was redesignated as 51st Signal Battalion, Corps, and for a goodly portion of that time it was deployed to Korea, where it earned two Meritorious Unit Commendations and a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. Reorganized and redesignated as the 51st Signal Battalion on 13 February 1955, the Battalion would not deploy to a combat zone again until the First Gulf War, where it served in all three campaigns comprising Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Since the launch of the War On Terrorism, the 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion has been deployed several times and is the recipient of three Meritorious Unit Commendations, with the earliest service dates recognized by the medals coming in March 2003 to February 2004.
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