The 565th Engineer Battalion was originally constituted as the 183rd Engineer Combat Battalion on 25 February 1943 and was activated at Camp McCain, Mississippi on 15 October 1943. Redesignated as the 565th Engineer Battalion and allotted to the Regular Army, it was deployed to Europe and took part in the Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe campaigns before it was inactivated in June 1945. Reactivated in March 1954 in Korea, the Battalion served there until it was inactivated in June 1960 and immediately reactivated in Karlsruhe, Germany as part of the 7th Engineer Brigade. On 15 May 1986, the Battalion was inactivated, but only for three months: it was reactivated as the 565th Engineer Battalion (Provisional) on 16 August 1986 through a VII Corps General Order. It would go on to be deployed during the First Gulf War before its Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment were inactivated in December 1993.
It was reactivated on 14 April 1998 and assigned to the 130th Engineer Brigade. While still part of the 130th Engineer Brigade it was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where it would gain fame for building the longest floating bridge constructed in a combat theater, spanning 580 meters over the Tigris River in Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit, on the 28 April 2003—Saddam Hussein’s birthday. The unit would deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom before its final inactivation.
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The 565th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, or unit crest, was approved on 27 August 1970. It celebrates the Battalion's three World War II European campaigns with a castle tower (Central Europe), scarlet oak leaves (Ardenne-Alsace) and a blue wavy bar (Rhineland). The taeguk superimposed over the tower is a reference to service in Korea, while the floating bridge exemplifies one of the Engineers’ most important functions—bridge construction—and recalls the record-setting achievement on the Tigris River in 2003 (see above). “Over All Obstacles” is the Battalion motto.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.