29th Infantry Division Unit Rings
29th Infantry Division— Blue and Gray
“29, Let’s Go!”
Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
Upon a disc with a green border, a taeguk, the curves being circles of half the radius of the disc, with the heraldic dexter half being blue and the sinister half gray.
When shoulder sleeve insignia were first authorized in 1918, the division was composed of two National Guard units from the North and from the South. The North is represented by the blue and the South by gray.
Distinctive Insignia 
A gold colored metal and enamel device, consisting of a fleur-de-lis with one red petal between two green petals separated by two gold barbs and connected by a red crossbar and centered overall a gold bayonet point up; on a curving blue scroll terminating under the green petals of either side of the fleur-de-lis, the words TWENTY-NINE LET’S GO, in gold letters.
The unit’s participation in campaigns of both World War I and World War II, in France and Central Europe, is represented by the fleur-de-lis, with the bayonet at center denoting the infantry combat function; the colors red and green and the barbs of the fleur-de-lis denote the award of the French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II, for participation in the amphibious landing on the beaches of Normandy. The color blue is traditional to the infantry branch, and gold is symbolic of honor and achievement.
The 29th Infantry Division is based in Fort Belvoir, Virginia with elements in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. 29th is an infantry division of the United States Army and a formation of the US Army National Guard.
The 29th Division was formed in 1917 and adopted the nickname “Blue and Gray,” which reflected the coming together of Civil War adversaries in a single organization. The Blue and Gray set off overseas in 1918. Its advance detachment reached Brest, France, on 8 June. In late September, Blue and Gray division received orders to join the First Army’s Meuse-Argonne offensive as part of the French XVII Corps. During its 21 days in combat, the division advanced seven kilometers, captured 2,148 prisoners, and knocked out over 250 machine guns or artillery pieces. It paid a high price for this success. One-third of its members became casualties-170 officers and 5,691 men.
After its induction on 3 February 1941, members of the 29th division moved to Fort Meade. In February 1942, 29th was instructed by the War Department to convert from its square configuration to a triangular arrangement best suited for fighting a modern opponent. The old formation was designed to generate frontal attacks against prepared positions to the trenches of World War 1. From October 1942 to June 1944, the 29th Infantry Division trained in Scotland and England for the crosschannel invasion in Operation Overlord. The division moved to the Devon-Cornwall peninsula in May 1943 and started conducting simulated attacks against fortified positions. Five stretches of French coastline in Normandy were selected as the sites for the landings that the allies intended as the primary effort to defeat Hitler on the western front. The codename “Omaha” became the responsibility of the Regular Army’s 1st Infantry Division and the 29th on the morning of 6 June 1944. Until the end of 1945, the division remained on occupation duty. On 17 January 1946, Blue and Gray division returned to US and was demobilized and deactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.
The division was reactivated in Norfolk Virginia on 23 October 1946 and resumed its National Guard status. In accordance with the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions in 1963, the 29th was reorganized eliminating its regimental commands in favour of brigades. In the middle of the Vietnam War in 1968, several National Guard and Reserve divisions were inactivated as part of the realignment of resources and the 29th division was one of the divisions inactivated. Blue and gray division was reactivated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia on 20 September 1985 with detachment in Maryland.
In July 1998, Operation Chindit, the Division Maneuver Exercise brought together units from the 29th Infantry Division in a top to bottom test of infantry operations testing their skills from the staff level down to individual soldier combat tactics. On 16 June 2001, hundreds of Army National Guard soldiers from the 29th division completed nine days of training at Fort Polk, La., to prepare for their peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. In late July 2003, nearly 1,200 soldiers of the 29th division participated in a two-week Warfighter Exercise at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas which was overseen by First US Army. In 2005, 350 politicians, veterans and soldiers representing Blue and Gray division went to Normandy and Paris, France for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings. In 2006, a special troops battalion was added to the division’s command structure as part of the major reorganization. The division took command of the eastern region of Kosovo’s peacekeeping force to provide security in December 2006 and returned in November 2007. Several units of the division were deployed to support Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007.
29th Infantry Division Unit Rings
Our unit rings are a great way to celebrate service with a particular Unit.
Each ring includes the particular unit insignia, they can also be inscribed
with the soldiers name, rank, even details of overseas deployments.
