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 (Enlisted only) with the base of the insignia toward the outside shoulder seam. Enlisted personnel wear the insignia centered on a shoulder loop by placing it an equal distance from the outside shoulder seam to the outside edge of the shoulder-loop button. Officers (except Generals) wearing grade insignia on the shoulder loops center the DUI by placing it an equal distance between the inside edge of the grade insignia and the outside edge of the button.
The 55th Medical Group Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved on 20 June 1941. The white cross in military heraldry reflects the organization's provision of medical service, and the mullet (star) in the middle of the cross of the 55th Medical Group Distinctive Unit Insignia denotes the unit's origins in the state of Texas. Five maroon areas reflect the number of campaign streamers attributed to the unit during World War II. The unit motto of "Conserve Fighting Strength" reflects the tactical imperative of an efficient medical unit.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia" and 21–3(d) and (e),
"Beret" and
"Garrison Cap," respectively.
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Constituted originally as the 55th Medical Battalion in the Regular Army on 13 January 1941, the 55th Medical Group was reorganized and redesignated on 31 July 1942 as the 55th Medical Battalion, Motorized. Two years later it was converted to a Separate Battalion on 5 April 1944, with its HQ and HQ Detachment becoming HHD, 55th Medical Battalion and its companies going from alphabetical to numerical designations and starting separate lineages at this point.
During World War II, the unit took part in five campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater and had not yet returned to the U.S. when it was inactivated in Germany on 3 March 1946. It would be activated again on 6 September 1955 at Fort Bragg and as reorganized and redesignated as HHD, 55th Medical Group on 20 December 1956.
During the Vietnam War, the Group served in eleven of the seventeen campaigns, earning two Meritorious Unit Commendations between 1966 and 1969. Inactivated in Vietnam in June 1970, the Group was reactivated at Fort Bragg in March 1971, then inactivated from September 1974 until October 1992. It would serve as part of the 44th Medical Command until its final inactivation on 21 April 2010.