The design of the battalion insignia centers on a red (gules) shield with a fleur-de-lis on the chief (upper part) of the like, on a silver-white (argent) background, the colors of the Corps of Engineers. The fleur-de-lis represents service in France during World War I. The motto at the bottom,
CONDITE ET PUGNATE
(or as was improperly spelled for many years on the first version of the crest, CONDITERE ET PUGNATE), means
BUILD AND FIGHT!
Department of the Army
Lineage of the 20th Engineer Battalion
Constituted in the National Army as the 42nd Engineer Battalion
07 February 1918
Organized at Washington, DC.
18 October 1918
42nd Engineer Battalion broken up and its elements reorganized as follows
- Headquarters disbanded
- "A" Company redesignated as 42nd Company, 14th Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment
- "B" Company redesignated as 43rd Company, 14th Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment
- "C" Company redesignated as 44th Company, 14th Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment
- "D" Company redesignated as 45th Company, 14th Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment
42nd, 43rd, 44th and 45th Companies, 20th Engineer Regiment demobilized at Camp Merritt, New Jersey and Newport News, Virginia.
01 October 1933
Reconstituted in the Regular Army as the 42nd Engineer Regiment
01 June 1940
42nd Engineer Regiment activated at Fort Benning, Georgia.
01 August 1942
Redesignated as 20th Engineer Combat Regiment.
15 January 1944
20th Engineer Regiment broken up and its elements reorganized and redesignated as follows:
- Headquarters and Headquarters Company as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1171st Engineer Combat Group
- 1st Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment as the 20th Engineer Combat Battalion,
- 2nd Battalion, 20th Engineer Regiment as the 1340th Engineer Combat Battalion. (Hereafter separate lineage, the current-day 54th Engineer Battalion)
30 March 1946
20th Engineer Combat Battalion inactivated in Germany.
18 September 1950
20th Engineer Combat Battalion activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
08 June 1953
Reorganized as the 20th Engineer Battalion.
16 October 1992
Assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.
16 October 2005
Relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division (Battalion organic companies concurrently inactivated; Support Company constituted and activated)