The 54th Infantry Regiment was originally constituted on 15 May 1917 as the 54th Infantry and on 16 November 1917 was assigned to the 6th Division, the unit it would fight in during two World War I campaigns. Inactivated in October 1922, the Regiment would be assigned to 6th and 7th Divisions but not activated until 15 July 1942, when it was assigned to the 10th Armored Division. The Regiment was broken up in September 1943, with the 54th Infantry becoming the 54th Armored Infantry Battalion, its 3rd Battalion disbanded, and its 1st and 2nd Battalions redesignated as the 61st and 29th Armored Infantry Battalions, elements of the 10th Armored Division.
Many of these units would be reunited in 1959 as the 54th Infantry, but in the meantime they would take part in three campaigns in World War II and earn the Regiment a Presidential Unit Citation and a a Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm. During the Vietnam War, the 54th’s units fought in fourteen of the war’s seventeen named campaigns, earning a Meritorious Unit Commendation along the way. This would mark the last combat deployment for the Regiment, whose motto of “I Will Cast My Shoe Over It” is a quotation from Psalm 60 in which God declares Edom to fall under his sovereign control.
The Regiment was removed from the Combat Arms Regimental System in 1989, reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental system, and transferred to U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Its two remaining active battalions, the 1st and 2nd, perform One Station Unit Training as part of the 198th Infantry Brigade at the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Moore (formerly named Fort Benning) in Georgia.
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Frequently called a unit crest or DUI for short, the Distinctive Unit Insignia for the 54th Infantry Regiment was originally approved for 8 December 1928. It was also redesignated for the 54th Armored Infantry Regiment on 10 August 1942 and for the 54th Infantry Regiment on 29 December 1958. In its upper right is a charge from the 6th Infantry, from which the Regiment was formed. The shield’s blue color is for Infantry, and the gold bend is taken from the arms of Alsace where the Regiment was introduced to Battle. The ragged tree trunk on the bottom is an allusion to the Meuse-Argonne operation of World War I.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.
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.