The 503rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion oval—technically designated Airborne background trimming—was approved on 20 June 1994. It is worn by Battalion personnel who have earned a Parachutist or Air Assault badge, which is centered on the insignia and the combination worn on Service Uniform coats (AGSU and ASU) and shirts (Class B ASU only), as well as on the Army Maternity Tunic (female Soldiers only).
General wear guidance for the oval is found
Chapter 21-32 (b) of the January 2021 edition of DA PAM 670-1, with detailed instructions regarding the positioning of Parachutist and Air Assault badges is outlined throughout
Chapter 22-16 (b) of the same manual.
Assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team since 15 June 2006, the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment was originally constituted as Company A, 503rd Parachute Battalion on 14 March 1941 and activated in August of the same year. Its consolidation with Company A, 503rd Parachute Infantry—which was actually constituted at the time of the consolidation—resulted in the creation of Company A, 503rd Parachute Infantry.
Serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II, the unit took part in the famed parachute assault on the small Philippine island of Corregidor, aka “The Rock,” and its capture of the Japanese stronghold led to its nickname “The Rock Regiment,” along with a Presidential Unit Citation. In all, the Company served in four Pacific Theater campaigns, three of them in the Philippines, and its service in liberating the nation from Japanese occupation was recognized with a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.
The Company would be assigned to several parent units in the years following World War II, and in March 1963 it was assigned to the unit that it serves in today, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, before being given what turned out to more or less be its current designation, the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry (now 503rd Infantry Regiment). It was under that assignment and designation that the Battalion would serve in thirteen campaigns in Vietnam, earning two Presidential Unit Citations, a Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC), and a Republic of Vietnam (ROV) Cross of Gallantry with Palm medal and an ROV Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class.
It was relieved from assignment to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in January 1972 and assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, but that assignment ended with its inactivation in 1984. Assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and activated in Korea in 1986, the Battalion was redesignated on 1 October 2005 solely because the Army started putting the word “Regiment” into the official name of Regiments: Instead of 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, it was now the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment.
This was followed by the Battalion’s inactivation at Fort Carson, Colorado on 15 November 2005 and relief from its 2nd Infantry Division assignment. Since its assignment to the 173rd Airborne Brigade (now Brigade Combat Team) and activation on 15 June 2006 at its current home base in Italy, the Battalion as a whole has earned a Valorous Unit Award and a Meritorious Unit Commendation, with several instances of smaller Battalion components being singled out for similar awards on an individual basis.
As of October 2021, the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment is still based at Caserma Del Din in Vicenza, Italy It was most recently in the news for its hands-on testing of prototypes of the new Army Ground Mobility Vehicle durijng the Defender-Europe 21 and African Lion exercises held in the spring and summer of 2021.