[2] The 64th Quartermaster Battalion (Base Depot) was the first major sustainment organization to arrive on the beachhead of Normandy, following the axis of advance by pushing classes of supply across the English Channel.

[2] For the period from D+41 through D+90, ADSEC had requisitioned enough spare parts to maintain a 30-day level in each using unit and an additional 30-day supply in the army Class II depot.

It became the largest single salvage installation in the ETO with the purpose of undertaking fifth echelon maintenance and manufacturing projects never contemplated by the War Department.

Depot Q-256 was administered by the 64th Quartermaster Battalion (Base Depot) and operated by the 696th QM Salvage Repair Company (Fixed); these two units had been trained together at Lydney, and combined a total of 586 attached service troops or civilian employees, not including employed German prisoners of war, whose numbers swelled twenty times that number.

[2] Scrap materials were used to reinforce paratroop trousers, fabricate Browning Automatic Rifle belts and rocket ammunition pouches, and patch tent-age.

Sufficient machine tools were available to permit the occasional manufacture of badly needed spare parts such as flame cups for one-burner stoves and rotors for gasoline dispensers.

[2] During the second half of November 1944, combat units of First Army complained that items arriving in the forward areas marked Class B clothing were not suitable for issue, and also reports from its own field liaison officers that 80 percent of the clothing located at Utah Beach marked Class X was actually combat serviceable and included such scarce items as field jackets.

COL Beny Rosaler, chief of the Field Service Division, had a solution: assign the 64th Quartermaster Battalion (Base Depot), which was in Reims at that time, with the task of sorting out the confusion.

[3] Initially, ADSEC made use of the famous Red Ball Express to rapidly push supplies following the breakout from the beaches of Normandy until November 1944.

Cherbourg, Liège - including the battalion's base of operations, Reims, and Nancy-Metz were to be closed down as soon as their stocks were exhausted and Paris was to be reduced to a minor issue depot for the rear headquarters.

[1] From 19 September 1950 to 20 October 1953, the 64th Quartermaster Battalion was briefly reactivated in West Germany during heightened tensions during the Cold War but did not see combat in Korea.

During this period the battalion delivered more than 300,000,000 gallons of bulk fuel in tank vehicles and drove more than 7,000,000 miles under the most adverse and hazardous conditions in support of major tactical maneuvers.

Through their unrelenting perseverance, consummate knowledge and devotion to mission accomplishment, the members of the unit contributed immeasurably to the free world struggle against Communist aggression in the Republic of Vietnam.

The Turkish Parliament refused to grant permission for the operation and the division's equipment remained offshore on ships during the buildup for the war.

During the deployment, the battalion and 3d Brigade were attached as part of the larger "Task Force Band of Brothers," 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

The battalion deployed once again to Iraq, serving from December 2007 to January 2009 to Sadr City, Baghdad during the height of sectarian violence and the surge.

During the nine-month deployment, the unit provided combatant commanders a versatile, responsive, and consistently available force to meet requirements across a range of military operations in the region.

The oriental dragon, a mythological symbol of alertness, readiness, self-defense and protection, denotes the unit’s campaign participation in Vietnam.

The gold lion, representing strength, courage and determination, refers to the unit’s service in Europe during World War II.

The fleur-de-lis and the three battlements allude to the three campaigns credited to the organization in France and Europe during World War II and the oriental rice motif symbolizes service in Vietnam.