Lineage and Honors Information

Commanders of currently active MTOE units can submit a request to CMH on unit letterhead for the preparation of a new lineage and honors certificate. Requests should include a return mailing address and point of contact. Only after the certificate has been prepared will the lineage information be posted to CMH Online. Lineage information for inactive units will not be posted to CMH Online. Lineage information posted to CMH Online will not be updated to reflect changes in unit status (such as an inactivation) or honors until a new certificate has been prepared at the request of the unit commander.

Please see the policies and restrictions regarding posted lineage information.

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Policies and Restrictions to 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.

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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.

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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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 [PDF - 237KB], 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 docuEdit Divment that is issued only to the commander of the unit.

The Lineage Information posted here 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: AAMH-FPO, 102 4TH AVE BLDG 35, FORT MCNAIR DC 20319-5060. 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.