Originally constituted in the Regular Army as the 19th Field Artillery on 1 July 1916 and organized eleven months later on 1 June 1917 at Camp Wilson, Texas, the 19th Field Artillery Regiment today has one active battalion flying its colors, the 1st Battalion, which was also formed back in 1916 as Battery A, 19th Field Artillery.
During World War I, the Regiment was assigned to the 5th Division and fought in two campaigns. Redesignated as the 19th Field Artillery Battalion during World War II, the unit garnered five campaign streamers for its service in the European Theater from 1944 until May 1945. Redesignated as the 19th Artillery under the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) in 1957, the Regiment was deployed to Vietnam and participated in 13 of that conflict’s 17 campaigns. The unit was withdrawn from CARS in 1987, reorganized as the 19th Field Artillery Regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, and transferred to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command in February 1987, where it began a mission of training new Recruits. After being redesignated as the 19th Field Artillery Regiment in 2005, the Battalion was relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma and was tasked with Basic Combat Training, an assignment it carried out until it was deactivated on 3 February 2023.
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The 19th Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (also called a DUI or unit crest) was approved on 15 April 1935, and has been redesignated to match the new designations the unit received over the years; the most recent change was to the insignia’s description and symbolism on 14 May 1992. The red bend (diagonal line) is from the arms of Lorraine and commemorates the Regiment’s baptism by fire while taking Frapelle in the Vosges region. The eagle in the upper right is the device of St. Mihiel and alludes to the heavy combat the Regiment engaged in near there.
Unlike most Distinctive Unit Insignias, the 19th Field Artillery Regiment’s does not contain the unit motto: PER SCINTILLAM FLAMMA, which translates in English as “Through The Spark, The Flame.”
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.