The 79th Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a unit crest or a DUI, was first approved on 22 December 1928. It was redesignated twice to reflect the unit’s changing designations, first on 14 April 1958 for the 79th Artillery Regiment and again on 1 September 1971 for the 79th Field Artillery Regiment.
Originally organized as the 21st Cavalry Regiment with personnel from the 13th Cavalry Regiment, the 79th Field Artillery Regiment commemorates this by including the badge of the 13th Cavalry in a canton in the upper right of its unit crest. A scarlet bend denotes the Regiment’s current Artillery affiliation, while the insignia below the bend is taken from the 7th Infantry Division Shoulder Sleeve Insignia but with its colors reversed and surrounded by a green circle.
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Established through the conversion and redesignation of the 21st Cavalry on 1 November 1917, the 79th Field Artillery Regiment was assigned to the 7th Division during World War I and was awarded an uninscribed World War I campaign streamer. Following a period of inactivation and assignment changes, the Regiment was activated between at Fort Bragg between June 1940 (1st Battalion) and June 1941 (remaining units), but was broken up on 23 February 1943 and its Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB) redesignated as HHB, 79th Field Artillery Group; its two battalions were both renumbered and redesignated twice.
All these units would be rejoined in July 1957 to form the 79th Artillery, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), bringing with them their World War II and Korean War battle honors—specifically eight World War II campaign streamers, all from the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, and campaign streamers from all ten Korean War campaigns. During the Vietnam War, the 79th Artillery received credit for participation in four campaigns, as well as Presidential Unit Citation.
The Regiment was redesignated the 79th Field Artillery on 1 September 1971, but it would not see combat under this designation; it was withdrawn from CARS in 1986, reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System in 1986, and transferred to U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. As of 2023, its only active unit is the 1st Battalion, assigned to the 434th Field Artillery Brigade as a Basic Combat Training Battalion based at Fort Sill in Southwest Oklahoma.