The Force Structure
and Unit History Branch determines and prepares Lineage and Honors
Certificates for active TOE units at or above the battalion level
[for exceptions see
AR
870-5, paragraphs 5-1b(1)(b) and (c)].
For smaller TOE units, a Statement of Service is issued on Center
of Military History letterhead containing the same type of information
that appears on the lineage certificate.
The
certificate is an outline of the unit’s organizational history
and is a legal document that is issued only to the commander of
the unit.
The Lineage Information posted on CMH
ONLINE is offered in a modified electronic format.
This
information was converted from other formats and, despite good
intentions, may contain errors or omissions. Consequently, official
Lineage and Honors Certificates (or official Statements of Service)
will still be required for submission when requisitioning unit
property, streamers, etc.
Official requests for the preparation of new Lineage and Honors
Certificates or Statements of Service must be submitted in writing
on unit letterhead, addressed to the Commander, U.S. Army Center
of Military History, ATTN: DAMH-FPO, 103 Third Avenue, Fort McNair,
DC 20319-5058. Army National Guard units should send correspondence
through the National Guard Bureau. Please be advised that there
is a considerable backlog of requests.
Unfortunately, on-going personnel constraints and our primary
responsibility to provide historical support to the Army Staff,
Congress, and other federal agencies restrict our ability to respond
to requests from veterans and the general public. Although written
requests will continue to be accepted, a wait of several years
is not uncommon for some requests. Our working files, however,
are open to researchers who make
an appointment with a staff historian.
The
following policies and restrictions should be noted:
- Lineage and honors
information will only be posted to this site after a certificate
or statement of service has been dispatched to the unit commander.
Information posted should be considered current as of the posted
date, although there may have been subsequent unit status changes,
redesignations, or additional honors. This additional lineage
information will be included the next time a certificate or
statement of service is issued to the active unit.
- Lineage information
will not be updated to show inactivations.
- Resources are
not available to determine or post information for inactive
units.
Please do not request that lineage and honors information be
prepared or updated for inactive units.
- The sequence
of preparation and posting of new lineage and honors information
is dependent on the workload and resources within the Force
Structure and Unit History Branch.
Although thousands of Army units have served our country, the
branch’s small staff has a large backlog of currently active
units awaiting lineage and honors information. Requests for
the posting of specific unit lineages cannot be accommodated
at this time.
- Higher headquarters
should not make requests for their subordinate units, since
official certificates are legal documents furnished directly
to unit commanders.
- Certificates
are also considered accountable unit property and current lineages
will not be replaced without another written request accounting
for the loss.
- Due to frequent
changes in force structure and the complex nature of determining
their history, lineage and honors information for Army National
Guard units will no longer be posted on this website.
Lineage
Terms and Devices
Unit Lineage and Honors information, except for armies, corps,
divisions (including divisional brigades), and separate brigades,
is posted below in subordinate directories based on the type
of unit (branch or functional area). The Armor directory contains
all of the entries for units in that basic branch; Signal the
signal units, etc. Cavalry contains information on units with
a cavalry designation no matter how they are organized (i.e.,
as ground reconnaissance, armor, infantry, or aviation). Other
directories are self-evident from their titles.
LINEAGE
TERMS AND DEVICES
A Glossary
of Lineage Terms appears in Appendix A of Organizational
History. Lineages for combat arms battalions contain one
special marking, commonly referred to as an earned honor device.
Honors that are marked with an asterisk are those that were
earned by the battalion or its predecessor. The campaign or
decoration streamers displayed on the battalion’s colors representing
those earned honors carry a special embroidered laurel
wreath (drawing courtesy of The
Institute of Heraldry website) to distinguish them from
honors shared by the regiment’s elements based on having been
earned by one of the other battalions. For additional information
on the earned honor device, Lineage and Honors Certificates,
and other aspects of the Army’s Organizational History Program,
see the Frequently
Asked Questions in Appendix E of Organizational History.
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Last updated 3 October 2003
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