The 240th Quartermaster Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, more familiarly known as a unit crest or a DUI, was originally approved on 19 August 1966 and was subsequently amended to change the description and symbolism on 15 November 1993. Its buff color is closely associated with Quartermaster units, while the black gear and wavy red bands symbolize the unit’s mission of planning, controlling, regulating, and maintaining the supply of gasoline and petroleum. “Proud To Serve” is the unit 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 (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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Constituted under the same designation it held when inactivated for the final time on 24 June 2011, the 240th Quartermaster Battalion was formed in the Regular Army on 13 January 1941 at Camp Livingston, Louisiana and activated on 1 June of the same year. It was reorganized and redesignated a year later as the 240th Quartermaster Service Battalion before being broken up on 15 February 1944, with its HQ and HQ Detachment becoming HQ and HQ Detachment, 240th Quartermaster Battalion (all other units redesignated and began new lineages). By the time of its inactivation on 22 November 1945 in France, the Battalion had fought in four campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, earning an Arrowhead device for participating in an assault landing during Operation Dragoon in Southern France.
Twenty-one years later, the Battalion was activated on 1 June 1966 at Fort Lee, Virginia, and was deployed to Vietnam where it took part in eleven campaigns and was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation for 1967-1968. On 15 April 1971, the Battalion was reorganized and redesignated as HHC, 240th Quartermaster Battalion, the name it would carry into action during Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield in 1990-1991. In 1993 it was named a Distinguished Unit of the Year award by the Quartermaster Foundation, an honor it received a second time in 1999.
During its last tour of duty in a combat zone, the 240th Quartermaster Battalion was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). For it outstanding service between 20 March 2010 and 25 March 2011, the Battalion was tapped for a Meritorious Unit Commendation that was announced in Permanent Order 164-15 published on 13 June 2011. Eleven days later, the Battalion took part in its final activity: an inactivation ceremony held at Fort Lee (renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in 2023).