The regiment was inactivated on 16 November 1921 at Camp Travis, with the personnel concurrently transferred to units of the 2nd Division, and was demobilized (disbanded) on 31 July 1922.

Landing at Normandy in 1944, the 46th Infantry led the 5th Armored Division in five campaigns earning the nickname "Victory’s Spearpoint".

For their repeated courage under fire, the 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry, was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations, the French Croix de Guerre, and the Luxembourg Croix de Guerre, those nation's highest awards for gallantry in action.

Though the 5-46th left Vietnam when the Americal Division cased its colors in the fall of 1971, the 1-46th deployed to Da Nang with the rest of the 196th.

The 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry subsequently was assigned to 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Ferris Barracks, Erlangen, Germany.

A Gold color metal and enamel device 1+5⁄32 inches (2.9 cm) in height overall consisting of a shield blazoned: Azure, in pale a mullet and a flaming torch Or.

The charge, a gold torch and star, is taken from the flag of the State of Indiana while the badge of the 10th Infantry is shown on the canton.

Tim O'Brien described his tour in Vietnam with the regiment's Alpha Company, 5th Battalion in his book If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home.