The blue shield of the 160th Infantry Regiment Dis-tinctive Unit Insignia, frequently but errantly called a “unit crest,” indicates the organization’s status in the Infantry branch of the Army. Red and blue diagonal lines trimmed in gold, called bendlets, denote service in the Spanish-American War and Mexican Border duty, respectively. A pair of angel’s wings in the upper right of the shield symbolize Los Angeles, the “City of Angels” and headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment, while the fleur-de-lis below is for World War I service. A gold border around the shield is emblematic of the state of California and simulates the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Originally approved on 22 May 1928 for the 160th Infantry Regiment, this unit crest was also approved for the 160th Armored Infantry Battalion in 1955 and was redesignated for the 160th Infantry Regiment on 24 April 1961.
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.
The 160th Infantry Regiment was originally constituted in the California National Guard in July 1885 as the 7th Infantry Battalion. Its official nickname, “Seventh California, is taken from the designation under which was mustered into Federal service in 1898 at the Presidio of San Francisco: the 7th California Volunteer Infantry. After being inducted into Federal service for World War I, the unit was consolidated with several others and reorganized and redesignated as the 160th Infantry in November 1917. Assigned to the 40th Division, the Regiment fought in the Meuse-Argonne campaign before the war’s end and was demobilized after returning stateside.
Reformed as the 160th Artillery following demobilization, in April 1929 the Regiment’s 2nd Battalion was withdrawn, reorganized, and redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 185th Infantry, an element of the 40th Division (the 160th Infantry began a separate lineage here). During World War II and the Korean War, the unit’s in this Battalion’s lineage would fight in five World War II campaigns in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, earning Arrowheads for taking part in assault landings at Luzon and in the Southern Philippines and a Philippine Presidential Unit citation. They would also take part in four Korean War campaigns and earn the Regiment a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. (Several companies that would later be part of the 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment would be awarded individual military decorations for the Korean War and the War on Terrorism and also earn individual campaign credits;
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As the result of several redesignations and reorganizations, this battalion’s lineage ended producing three Armored Infantry battalions—the 161st, 223, and 224th—that were consolidated, reorganized, and redesignated as the 160th Infantry, a parent regiment in the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Rifle Battalions, all elements in the 40th Armored Division (they were redesignated simply as Battalions in 1963).
Several rounds of reorganization followed over the next few decades, with the most recent coming in 2007/2008 as the Regiment was reorganized on 1 September 2007 to consist of the 1st Battalion, an element of the 40th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), and the 40th IBCT being redesignated as the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. As of Summer 2023, the 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment remains a California Army National Guard unit assigned to the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
For the remainder of 2023, it will be serving a deployment to an unnamed location in the Middle East that falls within the command and control of United States Central Command.