519th Military Police Battalion Unit Crest (Service To The Troops)

The 519th Military Police Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia exclusively uses green and yellow (gold), the official branch colors of the Military Police, for both its shield portion and the scroll containing the unit motto, “Service To The Troops.” In the shield is an ornamental stone garden lantern of a type used in the Ryuku Islands by its natives, recalling the Battalion’s honorable service there during World War II.

Currently stationed at Fort Polk, the 519th Military Police Battalion was originally organized as the 15th Military Police Battalion in October 1927 and was redesignated as the 519th MP Battalion in June 1940, but it was not called to active duty until April 1944. Deployed to the Pacific Theater a year later, the Battalion assisted in the processing of 400,000 enemy prisoners taken during the Battle of Okinawa, the island it had been assigned to occupy. During the Korean War, the Battalion landed with early arriving elements of the United Nations Forces to reinforce the Pusan Perimeter. Before war’s end, the unit had fought in all ten campaigns and earned a Korean Presidential Unit Citation and two Meritorious Unit Commendations.

Inactivated following the Korean War, the Battalion was activated in December 1966 and in 1968 permanently relocated to Fort Meade, Maryland. Over the next two decades, the unit was deployed to Washington, D.C. to provide control over civil disturbances and provide security for three Presidential inaugurations.

Beginning in 1989, however, the Battalion would soon find itself ever more frequently deployed to combat or conflict zones, starting with Panama for Operation Just Cause in 1989. In 1990 and 1991 it supported Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm; in late 1991 it headed to Guantanamo Bay to aid in relocating Haitian refugees; in 1994 the Battalion deployed to Haiti in support of Operation Uphold Democracy. Its operations continued apace heading into the War on Terrorism, where it has been sent in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Operations Enduring Freedom at least a half-dozen times, pushing its total number of campaign streamers to fourteen. Its military honors include three Meritorious Unit Commendations, a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and two Army Superior Unit Awards.

The Battalion has been based at Fort Polk since 2006.