The 165th Quartermaster Group Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI)—colloquially referred to as a unit crest—was approved on 2 October 2006, sixteen days after it was activated under that designation for the very first time. Buff and blue colors are used throughout the insignia to denote its status as a unit in the Quartermaster Corps, while the crossed key and sword in the center and eagle serving as crest are adapted from the Quartermaster branch insignia. Gold is used to signify high ideals and excellence, and fleur-de-lis below the eagle represents campaign participation in Northern France and Central Europe during World War II.
A pair of roundels (discs or circles) with white and blue wavy lines symbolize petroleum and water, two resources the Group distributes to troops. Below the fleur-de-lis, the Group’s status as a unit in the Virginia Army Reserve is represented by an American Dogwood, the state flower of Virginia. EMPERE LAURUS, the unit motto, is Latin for “Fuel The Victory.”
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 (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.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Originally constituted in the Army of the United States as HQ and HQ Detachment, 541st Quartermaster Group on 15 June 1944 and activated three days later in England, the 165th Quartermaster Group is credited participation in the two European Theater campaigns—Northern France and Central Europe—in which the 541st took part. Inactivated in June 1945, the 541st QM Group was redesignated as HQ and HQ Detachment, 465th QM Group on 18 March 1947 and allotted to the Organized Reserves (now called the Army Reserve); it was activated that April at Dallas, Texas, but just three-and-a-half years later was inactivated on 31 October 1950.
On 18 May 1953, the 465th QM Group was truly “re-designated” when it was given its old designation of HQ and HQ Detachment, 541st Quartermaster Group again—but although its designation had changed, it was still in inactive status. In fact, it was still inactivated over a half-century later when it was redesignated under its current title, HQ and HQ Company, 165th Quartermaster Group, on 11 May 2004. On 16 September 2006, it was finally activated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, ending nearly fifty-six years of administrative hibernation, but as of Summer 2023 the unit is no longer listed as an active organization in the Georgia Army National Guard.