91st Engineer Battalion Unit Crest (Acts Not Words)

The Distinctive Unit Insignia (unit crest) of the 91st Engineer Battalion was approved on 22 November 1939. Its color scheme of red and white used for the shield portion of the insignia comprises the official branch colors of the Corps of Engineers. A masoned bridge in the center of the insignia is a representation of Engineering achievement—one of the most understated yet poignant insignia designs in the Army. Complementing this simple yet powerful image is the plain, straightforward message of the unit motto: “Acts, Not Words.”

Originally organized as the 50th Engineer Battalion on 1 October 1933 in the Regular Army, the 91st Engineer Battalion received its current designation less than five years later on 19 January 1938 but was not activated until 10 February 1941. It was expanded, reorganized, and redesignated as the 91st Engineer Regiment on 10 July 1942 and was redesignated the next month (10 August) as the 91st Engineer General Service Regiment. Over the next three years, it would serve in two campaigns in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, East Indies and Papua, earning a Presidential Unit Citation for the Papua campaign and a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its overall performance in both. It was inactivated in the Philippines in January 1946.

In November 1951, the Regiment—minus the HQ and HQ Detachments, 1st and 2nd Battalions, and E and F Companies, which were disbanded at this time—was reorganized and redesignated as the 91st Engineer Combat Battalion and was activated on 14 January 1952 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It would serve under this designation for nearly twenty years before it was inactivated on 20 May 1971—and then saw more than twenty years elapse before it was activated at Fort Hood, Texas on 16 October 1992 and assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. It would take part in two campaigns in Iraq and earn a Meritorious Unit Commendation before being inactivated and relieved of assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division on 15 October 2005.

Reactivated on 16 October 2013, the Battalion was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. As of 2019, it is still assigned to the 1st ABCT and stationed at Fort Hood.