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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The 52nd Signal Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia was originally approved on 19 November 1941. Its predominant orange and white tones signify the unit as part of the Signal Corps, and the radio tower and countercharged lightning flashes in the center symbolize the early mission of the Battalion—the construction of communication facilities and operation of message centers. This function is further reinforced by the motto, “We Transmit.”
Currently based in Stuttgart, Germany, the 52nd Signal Battalion was first constituted on 18 October 1927 under its current designation (it is one of a handful of units to undergo no reorganizations or redesignations in its history). Activated in February 1941, the Battalion served in four campaigns in the Pacific Theater during World War II—New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon, and the Southern Philippines—and was awarded a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.
The Battalion was inactivated from January 1949 until 1 August 1966, when it was reactivated in Vietnam and went on to take part in a dozen campaigns before its inactivation on 13 October 1971 at Fort Lewis in Washington. On 1 July 1974, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, the 52nd Signal Battalion was activated in Germany. In January 2019, the Battalion’s personnel became the first to take charge of their quarters (Patch Barracks at U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart) from the Installation Management Command-Europe.