The 73rd Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia, often called a unit crest or DUI, was originally approved on 17 March 1943 while the unit was designated as the 73rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion. It was redesignated for the 73rd Artillery Regiment in 1957, then redesignated for the 73rd Field Artillery Regiment in September 1971. The scarlet field denotes the unit’s affiliation in the Field Artillery branch, and the gold lightning bolts symbolizes the power and speed of Artillery.
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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Organized as the 73rd Field Artillery in the National Army on 12 October 1918, the 73rd Field Artillery Regiment did not see combat in World War I and was subsequently demobilized on 28 December 1918 at Camp Jackson in South Carolina. Reconstituted in the Regular Army as the 73rd Field Artillery on 1 October 1933, the unit was redesignated as the 73rd Field Artillery Battalion and assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division on 19 March 1942. On 15 July 1942, it became 73rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion, was relieved from assignment to the 2nd Cavalry Division, and was assigned to the 9th Armored Division.
It was with the 9th that the unit would earn its battle honors for three campaigns in the European Theater, earning a Presidential Unit Citation and a Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 for its performance at Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge). It would be the only combat action for the Regiment, which was redesignated the 73rd Artillery in 1957 and then the 73rd Field Artillery in 1971. With three years of the last redesignation, its 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Battalions had been inactivated; the 1st Battalion was the last to be inactivated in 1983.