The 724th Engineer Battalion was constituted on 3 June 1946 as the 724th Engineer Combat Battalion and concurrently allotted to the Wisconsin National Guard; it had already been assigned to the 32nd Infantry Division on 13 May 1946. Nearly three years elapsed before it was organized and Federally recognized on 2 February 1949 with Headquarters at Ashland. The unit was reorganized and redesignated as the 724th Engineer Battalion on 1 February 1953 and its Headquarters relocated to Superior in February 1959. On 30 December 1967, its assignment to the 32nd Infantry Division came to an end after more than twenty-one years.
April 2001 saw the Battalion’s Headquarters relocated again, this time to Hayward, and two years later the Battalion was ordered into Federal service at home stations on 15 March 2003. Released from Federal service following a tour in Iraq for which the it was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Battalion reverted to state control on 15 July 2004, and in September 2008 its Headquarters were moved yet again, this time to Chippewa Falls. Called into Federal service in March 2010 at home stations, the Battalion deployed to Joint Base Balad and became the only Engineer Battalion in the Iraq Joint Operating Environment, and its service during the next year was subsequently honored with a second Meritorious Unit Commendation.
As of Autumn 2023, the Battalion is still headquartered at Chippewa Falls and the unit is a subordinate of the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Wisconsin Army National Guard.
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The 724th Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), or unit crest, was approved on 8 January 1957. A disc with wavy blue bars is a heraldic device for a fountain and represents the lakes that are ubiquitous in the Battalion’s home area of northern Wisconsin (the Badger above the fountain is a reference to Wisconsin as the “Badger State”). A stylized white pine tree alludes to the region’s nickname as “the Pinery,” a title earned when logging and lumbering were major industries in the area. A pair of crossed axes over an upright bayonet symbolize the historic combat mission of the organization. “Men Of The North” is the unit motto.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.