World War I The 20th Engineer Regiment was organized with the mission to provide lumber for combat and support operations for the
American Expeditionary Force and its allies, thereby earning the name "Lumberjacks". The
US Forestry Service was largely in charge of recruiting for the regiment and was able to fill the first few battalions with men from within the Forestry Service and the civilian forestry industry. In November 1917, the first two battalions of the 20th Engineer Regiment arrived in
Saint-Nazaire, France.
World War II The 20th Engineer Regiment was reactivated in 1940 at
Fort Benning, Georgia, as the United States prepared to enter
World War II. The regiment cleared and secured local ports and then fortified the hotel where President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Winston Churchill met for the
Casablanca Conference. The 20th Engineer Battalion was preparing to travel to Asia to carry out an attack on the Japanese home islands when the war finally ended. The battalion was inactivated in
Frankfurt, Germany on 30 March 1946. The battalion returned to Fort Devens, Massachusetts in 1963.
Vietnam War The 20th Engineer Battalion was transported to
Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in 1966. The battalion was attached to the
18th Engineer Brigade for most of the war. With its organic and attached special companies, the battalion constructed airfields and basecamps, conducted land clearing and route clearance operations, built roads and bridges, and supported Special Forces operations. On 20 August 1971, the 20th Engineer Battalion returned to the United States, to
Fort Campbell,
Kentucky.
Desert Shield and Desert Storm The 20th Engineer Battalion deployed to Saudi Arabia for
Operation Desert Shield in October 1990. It conducted counter mobility and survivability operations for the
101st Airborne Division and
XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery. In
Operation Desert Storm, the battalion attacked 300 miles into Iraq with the mission to support the
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and
French 1st Armored Division to secure the far western flank of the assault (the "big left hook"). During the attack, the 20th Engineers assaulted enemy fortifications, cleared areas of obstacles and unexploded ordnance, and built logistics bases. The battalion returned to
Fort Campbell in April 1991.
Early 1990s reorganization The 20th Engineers moved to
Fort Hood to reorganize in June 1992 and became an organic part of the Engineer Brigade of the
1st Cavalry Division.
Korea In 1995 he 20th Engineer Battalion headquarters and Company C were deployed in support of the 1st Brigade of the
1st Cavalry Division and 2-8 Cavalry to the mountains of Korea to participate in Operation
Foal Eagle. The task force participated in simulated war games and reconnoitered key Korean infrastructure. In late 2006, the 20th Engineer Battalion was again deployed to Iraq in support of the
1st Cavalry Division. This time the battalion carried out the mission under the command of the 1169th Engineer Group (
Alabama National Guard), which functioned as the Engineer headquarters for the 1st Cavalry Division. Major missions of the battalion included route clearance, combat construction, rapid construction of forwarding operating bases during the
Surge, and anti-
IED operations. The battalion returned to
Fort Hood in November 2007. On November 5, 2009, an Arab terrorist shot, wounded, and killed soldiers at Fort Hood as they prepared to deploy to Afghanistan. Four soldiers were killed and eleven soldiers were wounded from the 20th Engineer Battalion. They were visited by the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during their deployment. The battalion returned to Fort Hood in January 2011. The 20th Engineer Battalion was redeployed to Afghanistan in October 2012 as a multi-functional task force for conducting combat missions, clearing routes, and participating in construction missions. Many and diverse engineer companies, including National Guard units from
Massachusetts,
Wisconsin,
North Carolina, and
Florida, and an active-duty company from
Fort Campbell, Kentucky, were assigned to the task force. The task force spent a considerable amount of time training engineers of the
Afghan National Army. The battalion returned to Fort Hood in July 2013. 2014-2019 the 20th EN BN deployed to Afghanistan, Romania, and the southern border mission.
Current and future The 20th Engineers at Fort Hood train for major, near-peer land combat. Its companies have begun to receive modern equipment such as
M2 Bradley Engineer Fighting Vehicles and
M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles. ==Decorations and awards==