62nd Engineer Battalion Unit Crest (Malleis Milito)

The 62nd Engineer Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia, frequently (but mistakenly) called a “unit crest,” was approved on 20 July 1954. Its shield is taken from the coat of arms of the 18th Engineer Regiment, but with a different border to denote the descent of the Battalion from that unit. The trestle is a symbol of the technical duties and responsibilities of the Battalion. The unit motto, MALLEIS MILITO, is Latin for “I Soldier With A Hammer.”

The Battalion traces its origins to the constitution and activation of the 2nd Battalion, 18th Engineers in the Regular Army on 16 October and 21 October, 1939 respectively. Redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, 18th Engineer Combat Regiment on 1 August 1942, the unit was awarded a campaign streamer for the American Theater and another for the Aleutian Islands in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. It would reorganized and redesignated on 8 January 1945 as the 410th Engineer Combat Battalion, followed by another reorg/redesignation on 18 October 1945 as the 410th Engineer Construction Battalion.

Before the start of the Korean War, the unit was redesignated as the 62nd Engineer Construction Battalion on 22 April 1949. Under that designation, it would take part in nine of the war’s ten campaigns and be awarded a pair of Meritorious Unit Commendations for service between 1950 and 1953. It was reorganized and redesignated for the final time on 1 April 1954 as the 62nd Engineer Battalion and participated in thirteen Vietnam War campaigns under that title and its service recognized with three more Meritorious Unit Commendations.

It would not see a combat zone again until 1990, when it was deployed for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and won another Meritorious Unit Commendation. During the War on Terrorism, it has received three more Meritorious Unit Commendations, the most being for its 2008-2009 deployment in Afghanistan. After completing that tour, it returned to Fort Hood, Texas where its organic elements were inactivated on 16 September 2009 and an organic Support Company was concurrently constituted and activated. In November 2018, its Headquarters and its 104th Engineer Construction unit were deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border in order to “enhance [Customs and Border Patrol’s] ability to impede or deny illegal crossings and maintain situational awareness as it contributes to CBP's overall border security mission.”