The 7th Field Artillery Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (also called a DUI or unit crest) was approved on 26 February 1923. It features a scarlet shield (the color of Artillery) and three silver crescents taken from the coat of arms of the French village of Luneville, site of the Regiment’s first World War I combat. The seven blue bonnets represent the unit’s numerical designation and birthplace (blue bonnets are the Texas state flower).
The 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. DUIs are not worn on the Dress variations of either uniform, however.
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The 7th Field Artillery Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army as the 7th Field Artillery on 1 July 1916 and organized at Fort Sam Houston in Texas the following week. Assigned to what would eventually be designated as the 1st Infantry Division, the 7th FA took part in seven World War I campaigns, earning two French Croix de Guerre with Palms. It was here that the Division acquired its motto, the Latin phrase “NUNQUAM AERUMNA NEC PROLIO FRACTUM.” It translates as “Never Broken By Hardship Or Battle” and is the description given to it and all the other units comprising the 1st Infantry Division by Supreme Allied Command Marshal Ferdinand Foch.
Before the U.S. entered World War II, the unit was redesignated the 7th Field Artillery Battalion and once again assigned to the 1st Infantry Division. It would remain with the division throughout the war, earning credit for participation in a total of seven campaigns. Among the honors the unit was awarded were two more French Croix de Guerre with Palm, a French Medaille Militaire, and a Belgian fourragère with two citations.
Named a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) in 1965 as 7th Artillery, the unit deployed to Vietnam and fought in ten of that War’s seventeen campaigns and was honored with two Meritorious Commendations. It was given its current designation in 1971 in the CARS, but in 1988 it was withdrawn from that system and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System.
The 7th Field Artillery’s two component battalions, the 1st and 3rd, were assigned to Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) before deploying in support of the War on Terrorism, with the 1st going to the 2nd BCT, 1st Infantry Division and the 3rd to 3rd BCT, 25th Infantry Division. The 1st Battalion was awarded a Valorous Unit Award and a Meritorious Unit Commendation for action in Iraq, while the 3rd Battalion earned two Meritorious Unit Commendations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and another for a 2004 – 2005 tour in Afghanistan.