The 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Battalion oval—officially designated as Airborne background trimming—was approved on 31 August 1989. Ovals are worn on Service Uniform coats (AGSU and ASU) and shirts (Class B ASU), and Army Maternity Tunics (blue or green, female Soldiers only) by Soldiers who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault badge, which is centered on the oval so the embroidered insignia creates a trim or border for the badge.
General guidance on the wear of ovals with these badges is found in Chapter 21-32 (b) of DA PAM 670-1 (January 2021). Regulations regarding the wear of Skill badges such as these vary between the different authorized uniforms, but detailed instructions are found in Chapter 22-16 (b) of the same manual.
The 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment was originally constituted as Battery B, 320th Field Artillery in the National Army on 5 August 1917. An element of the 82nd Division, the Battery and the rest of the Regiment was assigned to the 157th Artillery Brigade and fought in three World War I campaigns: St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Lorraine 1918. It was demobilized in May 1919 and Camp Dix, New Jersey but was reconstituted in 1921.
Redesignated as Battery B, 320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, the unit fought in six campaigns in Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany during World War II. The military decorations it earned during this period include a Presidential Unit Citation for its fighting at Sainte-Mère-Église on D-Day; two French Croix de Guerre with Palm awards and a French Fourragere; Military Order of William and a Netherlands Orange Lanyard; and a Belgian Fourragere for two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgium Army.
The unit did not see action during the Korean War, instead undergoing redesignations and a brief assignment to the 11th Airborne Division. In November 1962, it was redesignated as HQ and HQ Battery, 2nd Battalion, 320th Artillery and assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Deployed to Vietnam, it would take part in an astonishing fifteen of the conflict’s seventeen named campaigns, earning a Presidential Unit Citation, a Valorous Unit Award, and a Meritorious Unit Commendation, along with two Republic of Vietnam (ROV) Cross of Gallantry with Palm awards and an ROV Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class
Redesignated on 1 September 1971 as the 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, the unit would see combat again in 1990-1991 during the First Gulf War and earn another Meritorious Unit Commendation. Its assignment to the 101st Airborne Division ended in September 2004 when it was assigned to the Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team and given its final designation of 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment the following year.
From the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom until the Battalion’s inactivation in 2015, it was officially credited with one campaign credit and was tapped for three Meritorious Unit Commendations, the last for its service between October 2010 and October 2011.