The beret flash and Airborne background trimming—far better known by the descriptive nickname “oval”—of the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery were both originally approved for wear by the unit on 17 June 1986, but after more than two decades the insignia was redesignated for the 2nd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment on 18 May 2007. On 16 October 2014, the decision was made to redesignate once against to the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery, or 82nd DIVARTY.
Originally constituted as Headquarters, 157th Field Artillery Brigade in the National Army on 5 August 1917, the unit was assigned to the 82nd Division (of course later redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division) in 1921 and in February 1942 was given its current numeric and branch designation when it became the HQ and HQ Battery, 82nd Division Artillery. Just a few months later it gained its Airborne status when it was redesignated as the HHB, 82nd Airborne Division Artillery. It was temporarily inactivated between 2006 and 2014, with its assets used to form the basis of the Division’s 4th Combat Brigade Team in 2005 – 2006.
Over the decades since its activation, the unit has been credited with participation in three campaigns during World War I and six during the Second World War, two of which are augmented by Arrowhead devices denoting the unit’s participation in assault landings at Normandy and during the Rhineland campaign.
Its heroism during the D-Day landings was recognized with both a Presidential Unit Citation (then called a Distinguished Unit Citation) and a French Croix de Guerre with Palm (one of two it received during WII) for its actions at Sainte Mere Eglise, the first French town to be liberated by U.S. forces. It was also chosen for both a French Fourragere World War II and a Belgian Fourragere 1940 (for two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army) and the Military Order of William and an Orange Lanyard from the Netherlands.
Additional battle honors include three Armed Forces Expeditions (Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Panama), and two campaigns during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Although the U.S. Army Center of Military History’s Web page on the Division states that its War on Terrorism Campaigns are yet to be determined, estimates based upon deployment dates are that it will credited with participation in two campaigns in the Iraq theater: Liberation of Iraq and Transition of Iraq.
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