The 68th Armor Regiment was originally constituted on 1 October 1933 in the Regular Army as the 68th Infantry (Light Tanks), but was converted and redesignated as the 68th Armored Regiment and assigned to the 2nd Armored Division on 15 July 1940 and activated on August 1 of the same year. Before it could see combat, it was inactivated on 8 January 1942 and relieved from assignment to the 2nd Armored Division; it was reassigned to the 6th Armored Division and activated at Fort Knox in February 1942, only to have the Regiment broken up and its elements reorganized and redesignated.
Those units that retained lineage to the Regiment, which was re-formed in July as the 68th Armor under the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), fought in six campaigns in World War II, earning Arrowhead devices for the Western Pacific and Ryukyus campaigns in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and a Presidential Unit Citation (also for action in the Pacific Theater). They would also go on to earn credit for the final campaign in the Korean War (Korea, Summer 1953).
The Regiment's only active unit by the time the War on Terrorism was launched, the 1st Battalion was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division for deployment to Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was selected for a Valorous Unit Award for its actions during its first tour of Iraq (April 2003 to April 2004) as a part of the 3rd BCT and was subsequently honored with two more VUAs, one for 2005-2006 (with the 3rd BCT) and another for 2007-2009 while supporting the Multinational Division-Baghdad.
As of Summer 2023, the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment appears to be the Regiment's only active unit. It is assigned to the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and is stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado.
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Also known as a unit crest or DUI, a Distinctive Unit Insignia is 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
The 68th Armor Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia was first approved for the 68th Infantry Regiment on 23 March 1937, but it has been redesignated several times over the decades as a result of the unit’s numerous redesignations. The insignia was first designated for an Armored organization, the 68th Armored Regiment, on 18 September 1942 and was subsequently redesignated for the 68th Tank Battalion (November 1943) and the 68th Medium Tank Battalion (August 1952) before receiving its current designation in 1957.