Flag of the Western Union
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Western Union (WU) was a military alliance established between France, the United Kingdom and the three Benelux countries (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxemburg) between 1948 and 1954. The flag of the Western Union, also referred to as the Western Union Standard, displays an unbroken chain of five rectangular links in the shape of an upside-down pentagon on a blue field, with a multicoloured border (red on the outside, gold, black and white) taken from the WU member states' flags.
Design
Derived colours
Field (badge design)
The field of the flag is blue, and displays an unbroken chain of five rectangular links in the shape of an upside-down pentagon.
[The badge of the Headquarters, Western Europe, Commanders-in-Chief] may well be regarded as the first truly international Formation Sign/Badge although the badge of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) was worn during the war (1944–46) by British, American and other allied officers, as were also the badges of Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in North Africa and Italy, and Supreme Allied Command South-East Asia (SACSEA; the H.Q. Staff of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten). This badge is universally worn by the joint staff of the five Western Union Powers of the Brussels Treaty (Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg).
The badge, in which the five gold links forming a pentagon on a blue background symbolize the five Western Powers, is worn on did sleeve below the shoulder tide in the same position as all British Formation.
The badge was first seen (in Aldershot) in October, 1949, worn by Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery when he visited the H.Q. of the Airborne Forces.
Border
The border of the flag is multicoloured border (red on the outside, gold, black and white) taken from the WU member states' flags. The relative proportions of the border are approximatively: Red 3, each of the others 1. The total width of the border is approximatively half that of the depth of the flag.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Flag of the Western Union” is open-knowledge reference entry. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Flag, Western and Union, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “open-knowledge reference entry” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q54321779. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1954, 1944 and 1949.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Flag of the Western Union”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Flag of the Western Union primary sources, Flag of the Western Union archive and Flag research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Flag of the Western Union”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Flag of the Western Union” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.