The 111th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia (a device also referred to as a unit crest or as a DUI for short) was approved on 27 June 1929. Its blue field denotes the organization is from the Infantry branch, and the figure of Benjamin Franklin point to his role in forming the “The Associators,” a militia that was founded by Franklin on 21 November 1747 and constituted on 7 December 1747 when the Military Association of the City of Philadelphia recognized it. Unlike many unit crests, the 111th Infantry Regiment’s DUI does not feature the unit motto (NULLA VESTIGIA RETRORSUM, Latin for “No Step Backwards” or “Not A Single Step Backwards).
Distinctive Unit Insignias 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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Organized as the Associated Regiment of Foot of the City of Philadelphia, it was referred to as “The Associators” and the phrase is the organization’s officially designated nickname. It was mustered into service as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions of Foot of the City of Philadelphia three times between July 1776 and August 1777 and was credited with taking part in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown and the New Jersey 1776 campaign.
During the Civil War, the Regiment foughgt in nearly a dozen campaigns as the 72nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It would next be called into service during World War I redesignated as the 110th Infantry and assigned to the 28th “Keystone” Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard (later designated as the Pennsylvania Army National Guard), fighting in six campaigns before returning stateside and being demobilized in 1919 at Camp Dix in New Jersey. It would be given its current numerical designation as the 111th Infantry in 1921 and would serve under that title while again assigned to the 28th Division (28th Infantry Division after February 1942) during World War II, taking part in three campaigns in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.
In June 1959, the unit was redesignated as the 111th Infantry, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System consisting of two Battle Groups (changed to two Battalions in 1963). It was withdrawn from that system and reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System, having its number of battalions reduced to just one in 1994; it was redesignated as the 111th Infantry Regiment on 1 October 2005. As of Summer 2023, the 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard.