MOTTO: "Fortis et Fidelis" "Brave and Faithful"

FORMATION: Company A, Texas Engineers was organized in Port Arthur in 1916, followed by Company B shortly after, redesignated from artillery to engineers. Other units were formed after that date. B company was ordered to Camp Travis in San Antonio to supervise construction at that post. The entire Texas engineer unit was called to federal service on August 15, 1917. The Engineers were redesignated as the 111th Engineer Regiment in October, 1917 with the First Oklahoma Engineer battalion included to form second battalion of the regiment. Included in the ranks of the 111th were "400 cowboys", including most of Company C, First Battalion, from Sweetwater. The unit completed the work begun at Camp Bowie, building a road system and the "Benbrook trench system". The Benbrook trenches stretched, upon completion, for more than ten miles along both sides of the Texas and Pacific Railroad southwest of Fort Worth.

WORLD WAR ONE SERVICE: The unit arrived in France in July, 1918, and was assigned with the 36th Division to the Bar-sur-Aube. The Engineers were quickly called into service after arrival, assigned Corps Engineers for the First Corps in September, repairing roads, filling captured trenches and building bridges. After five days near St. Mihiel, the unit moved by night march into the Argonne Forest. The regiment spent most of October following the American advance, providing vital road building work as the armies advanced, ending the war near Sedan. Clearing German mines in the line of advance was a particularly dangerous part of the work of the unit. The unit was mustered out of service at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas, in May, 1919.

BETWEEN THE WARS: Reorganized as an all-Texas unit, 1922. Continuous service until mobilized in 1940.

WORLD WAR II: The Regiment was inducted into federal service as part of the 36th Division at Fort Worth, Texas, and moved to Camp Bowie, Brownwood, Tx, where 1st Bn was redesignated 111th Engineer Battalion (Combat) and 2d Bn was resdesignated 2d Bn 176th Engineers on 31 Jan 42. The 111th trained with the 36th and made overseas deployment from New York on 2 April 1943, arriving in North Africa on 13 April, 1943. Landed at the Salerno Beachhead, 9 September, 1943, and accompanied the 36th Division as Division Engineers in the landings in Southern France, 15 August, 1944, the Loire Valley, Vosges, Alsace, and the Danube Valley, ending the war near the German Austrian border on 7 May, 1945.

Returned to the United States in December, 1945 and was deactivated at Camp Miles Standish, Massachusetts, on 26 December, 1945. Merry Christmas, 111th.

WORLD WAR II CAMPAIGNS: Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Ardennes, Alsace, Central Europe

POSTWAR SERVICE:

111th Engineers: When the 36th Infantry Division was reconstituted in Texas in 1947, the 111th Engineer Combat Battalion was reactivated, serving as a unit of the 36th until the division was deactivated in 1968.

386th Engineers: Continuing the lineage, of the 2d Battalion, 111th Engineer Regiment, the 386th Engineer Battalion was reactivated and reorganized in the post World War II period, with various units of the Battalion being organized in 1947, 1948 and 1949, assigned to the 49th Armored Division. Through the 386th; the lineage of the 176th Engineer Combat Battalion were continued, with campaign credits for Lyete (with arrowhead) and Ryukus campaigns in the Pacific during World War II. Companies C, D and E had been organized after World War II as units of the 176th Engineer Combat Battalion, Texas National Guard. On 15th of March, 1955, all units of the 176th and 386th were redesignated as HHC, Company A, B, C, D, and E of the 386th Combat Engineer Battalion, located at Bryan, Lufkin, Brenham, Pasadena, Nacogdoches and Victoria Texas.

Berlin Crisis: On September 19, 1961, the 386th Engineer Battalion was mobilized with the rest of the 49th Armored Division as part of national defense activities relating to the "Berlin Crisis". The unit was deployed to Fort Polk, Louisiana, on 24 October, 1961, after training at home stations. After completing extensive maneuvers entitled "Iron Dragoon" in May, 1962", the unit was demobilized in June, 1962, and returned to state service where the 386th was continued in assignment to the 49th Armored Division.

Deactivation of 36th and 49th Division, 1968: Elements of the 111th and 386th Engineer Battalions were redesignated as the 236th, 271st and 272d Engineer Companies when the 36th and 49th Divisions were deactivated. Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 111th, with the 342 Engineer Company and the 231st Engineer Company were retained as State Troop Command Units. The 386th Engineer Battalion was deactivated.

Reactivation of the 49th Armored Division, 1973: The 111th Engineer Battalion was reconstituted in 1973 as an element of the 49th Armored Division upon the reactivation of the Division. The units of the Battalion were generally located in West Texas from Abilene to Mineral Wells, with a split company in Taylor and Cameron. The 236th, 271st and 272d Engineer Companies were deactivated. In 1980, the 386th Engineer Engineer Combat Battalion (Corps) was reactivated, remaining as a unit of the State Troop Command until 1995.

CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: In 1995, the 49th Engineer Brigade was organized as a component of the 49th Armored Division. Included in the Brigade were the 111th Engineer Battalion (Combat), the 176th Engineer Battalion (Combat) and the redesignated 386th Engineer Battalion (Combat)

Current as of 19Nov99