Like its Shoulder Sleeve Insignia and Combat Service Identification Badge, the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team unit crest—officially referred to as Distinctive Unit Insignia or DUI—symbolizes the Brigade’s origins in the Ohio National Guard, with the seventeen arrows representing the admission of Ohio as the seventeenth state in the Union.
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. More 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.
While it was designated the 37th Infantry Division in World War II, the Brigade took part in the Luzon landings when it hit the beaches in the Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945. Although initial resistance was weak, the Japanese defenses stiffened as the Division approached Clark Field and ForT Stotsenburg, which were not secured until the end of the month. Four days later, the Division entered Manila and on the evening of the fourth was preparing to bivouac when an officer noticed a wall with some boards that appeared to be covering some type of opening. Ripping the boards off, the discovered a hole in the wall of what turned out to be Old Bilibid prison.
Precisely how many POWs the Division liberated is not certain: some sources say it was 2,000, while others place the figure at 1,200. Nonetheless, the arrival of the 37th Infantry Division was a godsend for these prisoners, who could easily have been killed in the fighting that continued in the city over the next month, and the "Buckeye Brigade" was awarded a Philippine Unit Citation for its help in freeing the island from its Japanese occupiers.
Related Items
37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Patch (SSI)
37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Combat Service ID Badge (CSIB)