A unit in the Louisiana Army National Guard, the 769th Engineer Battalion has a lineage that goes back to the opening days of the Civil War and the organization of the Baton Rouge Fencibles in the Louisiana Military Force in early 1861. It was subsequently mustered into service first by the state (as Captain Andrew Herron’s Company, Baton Rouge Fencibles, 7th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment) and then by the Confederate States of as the Company B, 7th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment (nicknamed the Pelican Regiment).
The Regiment’s service during the Civil War included thirteen campaigns assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia that spanned almost the entire length of the conflict, from the repulse of McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign to the surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
When it was called into Federal service for World War I, the unit had become the Headquarters Company and Companies E and H, 1st Regiment of Infantry, but after induction was reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters Company and Companies E and H, 156th Infantry and assigned to the 39th Infantry Division. The Division was classified as Depot (replacement) division, and the Companies’ World War I streamer is consequently uninscribed because their personnel was assigned to various frontline units.
Redesignated as Company A, 156th Infantry, the unit took part in a single campaign in the European Theater during World War II. Following the war, the organization went through numerous redesignations and reorganizations until it was given its current designation of 769th Engineer Battalion on 1 December 1967. It would not serve in a combat zone again until the launch of the War on Terrorism, and following a 2007-2008 deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom it was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation in May 2009. Today (May 2023), the Battalion is assigned to the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and is headquartered at Baton Rouge.
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Also known as a unit crest or DUI, the 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 769th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia was first authorized for the Battalion while it was designated as the 769th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 24 May 1954. It has since been redesignated twice, first for the 769th Signal Battalion (4 January 1961) and then on 29 January 1968 when it received its current designation.
Red and yellow are used predominantly in the insignia to reflect the organization’s Artillery heritage when the insignia was first approved. Blue commemorates the service it rendered while an Infantry unit and the battle honors earned while part of an Infantry unit. A six-pointed star, called a mullet in heraldry, simulates the appearance of the bursting of an Artillery shell. DIEU AVEC NOUS, the motto of the Battalion, is Frenc for “God With Us.”
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."