The 169th Field Artillery Brigade Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, commonly known as a unit patch or simply “patch,” was approved for wear on 1 January 1979. It features a gold border and a gold field artillery piece resting beneath white-peaked mountains with red slopes and a blue sky. Scarlet and gold have long been associated with Field Artillery, while the mountain and sky are a direct reference to the Brigade’s former home at Denver Colorado (see history below). The color of the field piece is an allusion to Colorado’s gold fields, while the red mountains are an indirect allusion to the state name of Colorado, which in Spanish means “colored red.”
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A unit in the Colorado Army National Guard headquartered at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, the 169th Field Artillery Brigade was originally formed at Denver as Company M, 1st Infantry in the Colorado National Guard on 19 June 1909. As Company B, 157th infantry, an element of the 40th Division, the unit earned a World War I campaign streamer (without inscription).
Redesignated as Headquarters Company, 157th Infantry, the unit took part in an astonishing eight campaigns during World War II, earning three Arrowhead devices for participating in assault landings in the Sicily, Naples-Foggia, and Southern France campaigns. Its service in Italy was recognized in 1950 when it was awarded a French Croix de Guerre with Palm.
The unit was first assigned to the Field Artillery branch in 1955 when it was designated the 169th Field Artillery Group on 1 August 1955. Redesignated as simply an Artillery Group a little over two years later on 1 October 1959, it was transferred to Aurora on 1 March 1972 and redesignated once again as a Field Artillery Group. It received its current designation on 1 May 1978.
Related Items
169th Field Artillery Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)
169th Field Artillery Brigade Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)