The 307th Engineer Battalion was first constituted on 5 August 1917 in the National Army as the 307th Engineers and organized at Camp Gordon, Georgia 27 August 1917 as a unit of the 82nd Infantry Division. This unit participated in 3 World War I campaigns: Meuse-Argone, St. Mihiel and Lorraine. It was demobilized on 17 May 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey.

The 307th Engineer Battalion was again ordered into active service on 25 March 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana as part of tke 82nd Infantry Division. On 15 August 1942 the Battalion was redesignated as the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion and assigned to the 82nd Infantry Division. From 1942 to 1945 the Battalion participated in 8 major campaigns, more than any other engineer battalion and was the first engineer battalion to perform a mission with an Airborne Division. The campaigns were Sicily, Anzio, Naples-Foggia, Rome Amo, Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace (the Battle of the Bulge), and Central Europe. In 1946, the Battalion was moved to and stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.