The 52nd Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, also called a unit crest or DUI for short, was approved for wear on 17 June 1937. A windmill is taken from the former seal of the city of New York, where the unit was first organized. The wheel denotes the unit’s history in the Transportation Corps, while the fleur-de-lis represents France and the resupply role the battalion played there during World War I. "NOUS SERVONS" is French for "We Serve."
The Distinctive Unit Insignia is worn by all Soldiers (except General Officers) in units that have been authorized to be issued the device. 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.
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The 52nd Engineer Battalion was originally constituted in the National Army as the 39th Engineers on 15 August 1917 and was organized 18 February 1918. Seven months later, it was converted and redesignated as the 39th Regiment, Transportation Corps (the Transportation Corps was not officially a separate branch of the Army at this time). The Regiment was awarded a World War I streamer with no inscription for a specific battle or campaign.
But that regiment was broken up between November and December of 1918, with its HQ and HQ Company disbanded and its companies renamed. The regiment was reconstituted in October 1933, again as the 39th Engineers, and activated in June 1940; it was then reorganized and redesignated as the 19th Engineers the next month, then again in August 1942 when it became the 19th Engineer Combat Regiment. It was under this designation the unit would take part in seven campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, earning an Arrowhead device for an assault landing in Algeria. This regiment was also broken up in March 1945.
Over the next twenty-plus years, the unit would undergo a series of inactivations, reorganizations, and redesignations. On 21 November 1967, it was finally given its current designation of 52nd Engineer Battalion and was activated at Fort Carson on 21 February 1968. It would serve in the First Gulf War, taking part in all three campaigns and garner a Meritorious Unit Commendation, as well as in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where its service was rewarded with another Meritorious Unit Commendation. Inactivated in 2005, it was reactivated in 2010. I
As if Summer 2023, the unit is serving as the 52nd Brigade Engineer Battalion and is assigned to the 555th Engineer Brigade and is stationed at Fort Carson.