Constituted as the 1st Replacement Depot in July 1940, the unit that would eventually be designated as the 1st Personnel Group was not formerly activated until 20 months later on 10 March 1942 at Fort Ord in California. Deployed to Algeria less than two months after the Allied landings of Operation Torch, the Depot established headquarters at Canastel and eventually introduced a system of retraining limited assignment personnel to serve as Infantry. By November of 1944, the Depot was administering an 8-week conversion training course to classes of 1,700 Soldiers (upped to 12 weeks at the start of December), providing instruction in all basic Infantry weapons and doctrine. For its work, the Depot received a campaign streamer for the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, but without an inscription.
Inactive from 1949 until 1990, the unit was activated as the 1st Personnel Group at Fort Lewis in Washington, with its Commander dual-hatted to also serve as the I Corps Adjutant General. The group provided a wide range of personnel-related services not only to I Corps, but also to members of other units at Fort Lewis and even the civilian community, living up to the motto of “Serve And Sustain” and earning an Army Superior Unit Award for its in role in helping the Army conduct its transformation process leading into the 21st century.
The 1st Personnel Group was inactivated in 2006.
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Officially known as a Distinctive Unit Insignia or DUI for short, the unit crest is worn only with the blue Army Service Uniform (ASU). It was introduced to serve as the ASU equivalent to the colored SSI-FWTS patch worn on the left sleeve of the Army Green Uniform which the ASU replaced.
For Enlisted personnel, the insignia is centered on a shoulder loop by placing it an equal distance from the outside shoulder seam to the outside edge of the shoulder-loop button. Officers (except Generals) wearing grade insignia on the shoulder loops center the DUI by placing it an equal distance between the inside edge of the grade insignia and the outside edge of the button.
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.