The Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 104th Field Artillery Regiment consists of a gold-bordered shield with a gold-bordered scarlet bend surmounted by a golden oak tree, muzzle-loading field artillery piece, and a cross of Lorraine; a golden horse head serves as a crest. The oak tree represents the World War I Meuse-Argonne campaign, while the cross of Lorraine signifies action in the Verdun-Fromersville Sector in the Lorraine region of France. The muzzle-loading field guns denotes the unit as Field Artillery; it is spiked in the rear to indicate the unit never retreated. A golden star in the upper right represents Mexican Border service prior to World War I, and the horse head is a reference to the Regiment’s existence during the horse-drawn period of artillery.
Also known as a unit crest or DUI, a Distinctive Unit Insignia is 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. Full 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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Awarded the special designation of “First New York Field Artillery,” the 104th Field Artillery Regiment was organized as Battery K, 1st Regiment of Artillery I the New York National Guard on 3 April 1867. It would experience numerous redesignations and reorganizations in the decades leading up to it being mustered into Federal service in 1916 for Mexican Border service as the 1st Field Artillery Regiment. Drafted into Federal service 5 August 1917, it was reorganized and redesignated on 1 October 1917 as the 104th Field Artillery and assigned to the 27th Division. It served in three World War I campaigns before returning stateside and being demobilized in April 1919.
As was the case with numerous Field Artillery Regiments, the 104th was broken up in September 1942, with its HQ and HQ Battery disbanded and its 1st and 2nd Battalions numerically redesignated (249th and 104th, respectively) and made elements of the 27th Infantry Division. Before both were inactivated in December 1945, they had taken part in three Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns, with the 104th FA Battalion earning a Navy Unit Commendation (the only Army Field Artillery unit to receive that award during WWII).
The two battalions would be reunited to form the 104th Artillery, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), in March 1959; it was redesignated the 104th Field Artillery in 1972, then withdrawn from CARS in 1986 and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System. In 1991, it was consolidated with the 187th Field Artillery under the 104th Field Artillery designation; in 1992, it was consolidated with the 258th Field Artillery under the 258th Field Artillery designation to consist of the 1st Battalion, an element of the 42nd Infantry Division.