Activated on 10 October 1918, the Second Army, American Expeditionary Force saw just one month of combat during World War I, with most of that time spent in a defensive posture holding the Allied line in preparation for a full-bore assault; its counteroffensive assault lasted just one day before the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. Despite the brevity of its combat action, however, the 2nd Army had over 100 Distinguished Service Cross recipients. Following the signing of the Armistice, the Army served occupation duty for several months before being demobilized in April 1919.
A new 2nd Army was activated in 1933, and in 1940 its headquarters was relocated to Memphis and it was designated a training Army; before the war’s end, it had carried out training exercises in some two dozen states, readying nearly a million Soldiers for deployment in every theater of operations.
Designated as Second United States Army in 1957, the formation continued its training and mobilization roles until 1966, when it was inactivated until 1983; it was inactivated again in 1995 and would remain inactive for nearly twenty years. On 6 March 2014, a new unit with the designation Second Army was activated to serve as a DRU (Direct Reporting Unit) of the Army’s Chief Information Officer; its Commander was dual-hatted as the Commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command, created in 2016. In 2017, Second Army cased its colors once again as the unit was inactivated.
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Approved on 5 October 1983, the 2nd Army Distinctive Unit Insignia features a fleur-de-lis and a Lorraine cross in memory of its service in World War I in the 1918 Lorraine campaign. The bifurcated colors of the fleur-de-lis are a reference to the unit’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, which has the number “2” similarly shaded in red for the top half and in white for the bottom half. At the bottom of the insignia is a banner that reads "Tout Préparé," French for "All Are Prepared" or, more loosely translated, "Everyone Is Ready."
Distinctive Unit Insignias are 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. Current regulations do not permit the DUI to be worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
More 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.Related Items
United States Second Army Patchg (SSI)