The 344th Combat Support Hospital was originally organized in the National Army as Base Hospital Number 83 at Fort Riley, Kansas in April 1918 and was demobilized thirteen months later on 5 May 1919. But like so many hastily demobilized units, the Hospital was reconstituted in the Organized Reserves—forerunner of today’s Army Reserve—in July 1923 as General Hospital Number 83; it was organized two years later in New York. It was redesignated as the 83rd General Hospital on 29 June 1929 as the 83rd General Hospital, the designation under which it would serve in World War II while deployed to Whitechurch, England.
Inactivated in November 1945 in New Jersey, the unit was redesignated as the 344th General Hospital on 30 January 1948, assigned to First Army, and activated two weeks later on 13 February 1948 in Brooklyn, New York. It would go on to relocate to Fort Totten on Long Island and become the 344th Combat Support Hospital until its inactivation at some point in the late Spring or early Summer of 2017.
Before its inactivation, the Hospital deployed at least twice in support of the War on Terror. In 2005- 2006, the Hospital provided medical support for Multi-National Forces – Iraq, specifically by handling command and control of two Theater Internment Facility hospitals and caring not only for detainees but also for U.S. and Coalition Forces throughout the entire Iraqi Theater of Operations. Its stellar service during this period was latter recognized with a Meritorious Unit Commendation. In 2010, a Detachment from the 344th Combat Support Hospital, assigned as Task Force Med-East, displayed especially meritorious service in the midst of highly kinetic operations during Operation Enduring Freedom; it would later earn a Meritorious Unit Commendation for the period 25 May 2010 to 9 April 2011.
The unit motto of the 344th Combat Support Hospital was EX TENEBRIS LUX, a Latin phrase that means "Out Of Darkness, Light."
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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 (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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."