THE MARCH EDITION OF MEDAL NEWS IS NOW ON SALE! MEDAL NEWS is now on sale at newsagents, from the website or from our office. Some really brilliant articles this month!
News-Antique.com - Feb 25,2008 - Features in the magazine this month:
Cape Government Railways in the Boer War
Recognising the war effort.
A family history
Andrew Cardew tragedy at war.
Almost a Charger
A narrow miss from the "Valley of Death" .
Shropshire Lads at Anzio
"D-Day Dodgers" in action.
Story of "Wooden Box"
A colourful character .
Heroes of the AM---Eric William Kevin Walton
A perilous rescue on the ice.
Badges of the Middlesex Regiment Pt II
Taking a further look at the evolution of a regiment.
Regular Features:
THE EDITORIAL
NEWS AND VIEWS
MARKET SCENE
FROM THE ARCHIVES
FROM THE BOOKSHELF
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ON PARADE
DEALERS' LIST
MEDAL TRACKER
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
DIARY
March 2008
Volume 46 No. 3
Heroes of the Albert Medal
Thin edge of the wedge?...
The recent announcement that the criteria for the award of the Veterans Badge is to be extended to cover all those who have served with the Armed Forces (regardless of dates of service) and the announcement of badges for the members of the World War II Land Army, the “Bevin Boys”and now the Air Transport Auxilliary (all following on from institution of the Merchant Seafarers Veterans Badge) brings the subject of medatlic recognition for service again to the fore and inevitably throws up the age old problems of just what merits a medal, what merits a badge and what shouldn’t be formally recognised at all.
One of the key differences between the British (and Commonwealth) system of recognition and that adopted by certain other countries is that our way of doing things has always been traditionally sparse, some may say mean, when it comes to the handing out of medals—at least to the rank and file. A serviceman or woman could serve for years without anything to show for their time in uniform, could be shot at daily and, apparently, have no formal thanks from the Government, whilst other service personnel from other countries could have rows upon rows of ribbons or medals simply for turning up on time (well, maybe not, but you get my meaning). Pleas for retrospective recognition fell on deaf ears, the desire to right the perceived wrongs of the past was sidelined and the legitimate claim by many that the medals they had been awarded weren’t adequate (particularly in the case of World War II Stars where the eligibility criteria was a mystery to most) was ignored. In recent years however, things have changed—first came the raft of “unofficial commemoratives” that still abound today, medals issued by private companies, often with the backing of a veteran’s organisation, to “fill a gap” left by the lack of official recognition. These were fine for what they were—but no one can deny that as more companies jumped on the bandwagon and more and more tenuous links to “service” were made, the proliferation of medals on some chests got frankly ludicrous. Then came the “big one” the decision to grant a medal (or at least a clasp) for the Suez campaign, something
