Often called a unit crest or simply DUI for short, the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 175th Infantry Regiment was approved 9 July 1958. The red color of the annulet in its center recalls the red uniforms of the Baltimore Independent Cadets, the military forebears of the Regiment, which were incorporated in Smallwood's Regiment of the Maryland Line during the Revolutionary War. Superimposed on the annulet is a military belt with the regimental motto “Decus Et Praesidium” inscribed upon it (the motto translates as “An Honor And A Guard).
A belt is the heraldic symbol of knighthood and identifies the insignia as being of the military order, with the gray field representing Confederate Service in the War Between the States. The number “5” is the historic designation of the regiment assigned to the unit by act of the General Assembly of Maryland following the Revolutionary War. The insignia is the design of the Crossland Arms, Alicia Crossland having been the mother of George Calvert, first Baron of Baltimore and planner of the colony of Maryland; the cross bottony forms the escutcheon, and the annulet represents the five most significant periods in the regiment's history until the insignia’s approval: the organization of the Baltimore Independent Cadets (1774); the Revolutionary War (1776); the War of 1812 (1812); Confederate service during the War Between the States (1861); and World War I (1918).
G
uidance 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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The 175th Infantry Regiment’s lineage predates the Civil War with the organization of the Baltimore Independent Cadets at Baltimore, Maryland on 3 December 1774. After being made part of William Smallwood’s Maryland Regiment in January 1776, the unit was adopted into the Continental Army on 17 August 1776 and significantly expanded and reorganized between January and March 1997 to create the 1st through 7th Maryland Regiments. By the end of 1783, these units had taken part in fifteen Revolutionary War campaigns and had been reorganized into just two regiments, the 1st and 2nd Maryland Regiments.
In the years between the War of Independence and the War of 1812, volunteer militia companies in Baltimore had been reorganized as elements of the 5th Regiment of militia (later designated as the 5th Regiment of Volunteer Infantry); it was mustered into Federal service for the War of 1812 for a brief period (19 August to 18 November 1814) and fought in two campaigns. Mustered into Confederate forces as the Maryland Battalion at the start of the Civil War, the Regiment would see action in seven different campaigns before surrendering (under the 2nd Infantry designation) at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865.
The Regiment was mustered for Federal service but not deployed in 1898, and when it was deployed during World War it fought in two campaigns in France after having been reorganized and redesignated as several different types of units (115th Infantry, 112th Field Artillery, Company C, 110th Machine Gun Battalion). It was finally given its current designation for the first time on 1 January 1941 when the 5th Infantry of the Maryland National Guard was redesignated as the 175th Infantry and indicted into Federal service. Assigned to the 29th Infantry Division, it would take part in four World War II campaigns (earning an Arrowhead device for taking part in an assault landing at Normandy) and earn two Presidential Unit Citations and an astonishing five French Croix de Guerre awards, two with Palm and three with Gilt Stars.
World War II would mark the last combat action for the 175th Infantry Regiment until the outbreak of the War on Terrorism. It was called into Federal service on three occasions between 2003 and 2012, and earned for participating in the Iraq Surge campaign during its second overseas tour.
As of 2023, the 1st Battalon, 175th Infantry Regiment remains an active component of the Maryland Army National Guard.