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2-54th Infantry Battalion

History

The 2nd Battalion, 54th Infantry was established on 15 May 1917 in the Regular Army and organized on 16 June 1917 at Chickamauga Park, Georgia. It was reassigned from the 6th Division on 16 November 1917. During WWI the battalion saw service from the Vosges mountains to the Argonne forest and back to the south of France; earning the famous Mailed Foot crest. The 54th Infantry was inactivated on 24 October 1922 at Fort Wayne, Michigan.

The regiment was called back to service in 1942 as the 54th Armored Infantry an element of the 10th Armored Division at Fort Benning. the regiment participated in many campaigns in Europe and was a key element in the relief of Bastogne; earning both a Presidential Unit Citation and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm. The unit was inactivated on 23 October 1945 at camp Patrick Henry, Virginia.

Since World War II, battalions of the regiment have been stationed stateside and overseas in Germany. Elements of the regiment participated in many campaigns in Vietnam and earned a Meritorious Unit Citation. On 28 August 1987, the 2d Battalion was transferred the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command and organized at Fort Benning, Georgia. Today, the 2nd Battalion is one of the two remaining battalions of the 54th Regiment and the proud custodian of its Regimental Color.

The Distinctive Unit Insignia is a sky blue shield for Infantry with a gold band taken from the arms of Alsace, where the Regiment first saw combat service in 1918. The ragged tree trunk represents the Meuse-Argonne Campaign in WWI. The personnel who established the 54th Infantry Regiment originally came from the 6th Infantry Regiment. The green ladder is taken from the crest of the 6th Infantry and represents the ladders used to scale the walls of Chapultepec in the Mexican War (1847). The 6-pointed star is the insignia of the 6th Division, while the chain-mail foot commemorates the march from the Vosges to the Argonne and back to southern France.

DECORATIONS

  • Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer Embroidered BASTOGNE
  • Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army), Streamer Embroidered VIETNAM 1967-1968
  • Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm,Streamer Embroidered BASTOGNE; cited in the Order of the day of the Belgian Army for action at Bastogne

CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT

World War I

  • Meuse-Argonne
  • Alsace 1918

World War II

  • Rhineland
  • Ardennes-Alsace
  • Central Europe

Vietnam

  • Counteroffensive, Phase II
  • Counteroffensive, Phase III
  • Tet Counteroffensive
  • Counteroffensive, IV
  • Counteroffensive, V
  • Counteroffensive, VI
  • Tet 69/Counteroffensive
  • Summer-Fall 1969
  • Winter-Spring 1970
  • Sanctuary Counteroffensive
  • Counteroffensive, Phase VII
  • Consolidation I
  • Consolidation II
  • Cease Fire