For nearly fifty years, the 59th Ordnance Brigade—originally constituted in the Army as Headquarters Detachment, 331st Ordnance Battalion and activated at Camp Livingston in Lousisiana—proved that its motto of “Power To Spare” wasn’t empty braggadocio. In the Second World War, the unit took part in two named campaigns (Rhineland and Central Europe) before the war’s end in Europe in May 1945. Redesignated as HHC, 59th Ordnance Group in 1951, the unit went on to earn a Meritorious Unit Citation along with recognition of participation five of the Korean War’s campaigns.
Inactivated in 1992 following several name changes and a long deployment in Germany, the Group—which had received the designation of 59th Ordnance Brigade in 1977—was reactivated in 1994 and merged with the U.S. Army Ordnance Missile and Munitions Center (USAOMMC) to become the Center’s Training Brigade. Ultimately, the Army “dual-hatted” the Commander of the Brigade to serve simultaneously as the Commandant of the USAOMMC. The school was renamed the U.S. Army Ordnance Munitions and Electronic Maintenance School/59th Ordnance Brigade on 3 October 2002.
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59th Ordnance Brigade Unit Crest (DUI)