 Upon formation in 1918, the battalion had adopted a vertical black and gold rectangle Unit Colour Patch (UCP), which was usually worn above the crossed guns badge of the Machine Gun Corps.While the battalion's constituent companies had previously been issued distinctive UCPs, upon the formation of the battalion these were replaced by the single battalion patch.The black and gold colours were chosen to signify that the unit as a machine gun unit, while the vertical rectangle showed that the 5th Machine Gun Battalion was part of the 5th Division, which used the same shape UCP for the majority of its units.