The 299th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, commonly called a “unit crest” or a DUI, was approved on 27 June 1955. It is counterchanged in scarlet and white (silver), the branch colors of the Army Corps of Engineers, including the silver scroll containing the unit motto, “Proven Pioneers,” in scarlet text. In the center of the insignia is an arrow tipped with a fleur-de-in lieu of an arrowhead to reflect the Battalion’s participation in the assault landings at Normandy during Operation Overlord, with the remaining four fleurs-de-lis denoting additional campaigns in the European Theater during World War II.
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. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
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The 299th Engineer Battalion was originally constituted in the Army of the United States on 8 February 1943 as the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion. In addition to five campaign streamers and the Arrowhead device for Normandy, the Battalion’s courage and bravery were also recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation, and its C Company was tapped for a citation in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action at St. Vith.
Allotted to the Organized Reserves in 1947, the unit was inactivated in July 1950, only to be reactivated in Germany December 1954 following a redesignation as the 299th Engineer Battalion and a concurrent withdrawal from the Army Reserve. During the Vietnam War, the Battalion served in fourteen of that conflict’s seventeen campaigns, earning a Valorous Unit Award and a Republic of Vietnam (ROV) Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class (1970-71), while C Company was chosen for an individual ROV Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class.
The Battalion would not be deployed to a combat zone again until the Southwest Asia conflict spurred on by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when it was called on to support the Cease-Fire campaign and was tapped for a Meritorious Unit Commendation. It marked the final action for the Battalion, which as inactivated in 2004 as part of the Army’s transformation to a modular force structure.