Also known as a unit crest or DUI, the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 420th Transportation Battalion was approved on 16 May 2003. One of its most striking elements is a profile view of a Roman Centurion’s helmet commemorating the unit’s superior service in Italy during World War II which was later recognized with a Meritorious Unit Commendation. The helmet is bookended by a pair of laurel branches that reflect the unit’s participation in the North Apennines and Po Valley campaigns, also during World War II, but they also symbolize honor and high achievement.
A trio of reversed piles (point-up triangles) colored blue, black, and dark blue denote the different modes of transportation—air, roadway, and land/sea, respectively. The points of the piles allude to supply routes or traveling into a diminished point far on the horizon. “Code Breakers” is the Battalion 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 (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.
Full guidance on wear of the DUI is found in DA Pamphlet 670-1,
Section 21-22, "Distinctive unit insignia."♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
HQ and HQ Detachment, 420th Transportation Battalion (Movement Control) is an Army Reserve unit that is assigned to the 304th Sustainment Brigade, 311th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, 79th Theater Sustainment Command when not called to active military service.
The unit was originally constituted as the 21st Traffic Regulation Group in the Army of the United States on 28 October 1944 and activated a month later in Italy. Before its inactivation in October 1945, it had fought in two campaigns in Italy (see above) and was later awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its stellar service in both campaigns.
It was redesignated on 28 April 1947 as the 420th Transportation Traffic Regulation Group and allotted to the Organized Reserves (later known as the Organized Reserve Corps and then Army Reserve) and was activated on 13 May 1947 until 1 August 1952, which marked the start of almost thirty years of inactivation.
Finally reactivated on 16 April 1982 at Los Angeles, California, the Battalion was relocated to Sherman Oaks in 1997. On 16 September 2000, the unit was given its current designation, HQ and HQ Detachment, 420th Transportation Battalion, and would begin its first active military service since World War II under that title.
Over the next dozen years, the Battalion would be ordered into active service on at least three occasions. Although its campaign participation status is yet to be determined, it did earn a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its 2004 service in support Operation Iraqi Freedom.