7th Engineer Brigade

Constituted on 16 June 1944 in the Army of the United States as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5202d Engineer Construction Brigade, they constructed lodgments and airfields in the Pacific theater during the Second World War.

The Army allotted the unit to the Regular Army on 1 October 1948 and redesignated it as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th Engineer Brigade, and shortly thereafter as the 7th Engineer Aviation Brigade. The brigade spent its early post-war years managing the expansion of nuclear testing facilities on Enewatak Atoll and training U.S. Air Force engineers at Wolters Air Force base. 

The brigade relocated its headquarters to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany on 22 September 1952, where it spent the next seventeen years constructing airfields and facilities across Europe and Northern Africa. On 14 June 1969, the 7th Engineer Brigade’s mission shifted from construction to combat support when it was reassigned to support VII Corps. Concurrent with its new alignment, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7th Engineer Brigade relocated to Ludendorff Kaserne near Stuttgart. Over the next two decades, the brigade supported VII Corps combat units in exercises such as the annual Return of Forces to Germany (REFORGER). These large-scale exercises paid dividends when the 7th Engineer Brigade was called upon to deploy to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Rapidly expanding into the largest engineer formation since the Second World War with more than 10,000 soldiers, the 7th Engineer Brigade constructed assembly areas and fighting positions, breached Iraqi defenses, and supported VII Corps in destroying two elite Republican Guard divisions and several infantry divisions. Shortly after redeploying from the Gulf War, the 7th Engineer Brigade was inactivated on 17 January 1992.

The 7th Engineer Brigade reactivated June 2023 at Barton Barracks, Ansbach, Germany.