The 23rd Chemical Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia was approved 13 February 1989. In its center a smoke bomb charged with a taeguk, a reminder of the unit’s origins as a Smoke Generator Battalion (see below) and its location in South Korea. Four smoke clouds, one at each of the main compass points, allude to the four unit decorations the Battalion received during the Korean War. A lion’s face commemorates the unit’s service in Europe during World War II. “Two Joined As One,” the unit motto, refers to the relationship between the United States and the Republic of South Korea.
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 (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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The 23rd Chemical Battalion was originally constituted in the Army of the United States on 27 May 1944 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment (HHD), 23rd Chemical Smoke Generator Battalion and activated in England. It was inactivated in France on 12 November 1945 and then redesignated on 18 January 1949 as HHD, 4th Chemical Smoke Generator Battalion, and allotted to the Regular Army.
A little over five years after its reorganization and redesignation as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment (HHD), 4th Chemical Battalion on 4 March 1954, the Battalion was inactivated for more than 40 years, from June 1959 to September 1988. At that time it was redesignated as HHD, 23rd Chemical Battalion and activated in Korea, where it is still stationed with the 2nd Infantry Division (as of Summer 2023).
The unit’s battle honors include five campaign streamers from World War II and ten from the Korean War, during the latter conflict the Battalion was awarded two Meritorious Unit Commendations and a pair of Republic of Korea Presidential Citations. Since the launch of the War on Terrorism, the Battalion’s service has been recognized with another Meritorious Unit Commendation (for its 2007 – 2008 deployment in Afghanistan) and an Army Superior Unit Award (2013 – 2014), while its campaign credits are yet to be determined.