WW1 Trio.

[Alby]

With so many WW1 medals being awarded after WW1, obviously some people had a long wait for theirs, but while they were waiting would they have been given their ribbons so they could be sewn on their uniforms. My grandfather received his 1914-15 star in May 1924 and war and victory medals in March 1925. He was still serving then. Alby.

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Yes if still serving the Star would be worn when required to be,on its own & full length ribbons {ie as if with mounted Medals} worn alonside it,most WW1 Medals were not issued until the early~mid 1920s some even into the 1930s,as well as very late Claims into the 1950s & 60s.If serving the Ribbons would be worn in strips on ribbon bars in undress uniform.

[27thBN]

Does seem rather unfair that if you are still serving in some cases you had to wait the longest .You would have thought if you are still serving you would have been first in the queue.

MC

[Nigel Marshall]

Here is a crop from a very well known photograph. It shows Capt Edward Unwin, the Gallipoli VC on the occasion of the VC Garden Party which was held at a time when many serving (and ex-service) people were still waiting for their medals. All they did to get round it, as Harry has said, was have the empty ribbons added to their Brooch bars and mount the medals they did have. Unwin's group has a foreign decoration after all the others and that is why there is a gap in the middle.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Chris_Baker]

The vast majority of medal issue dates (to other ranks who had been discharged) were 1919 for the Stars and 1921 for the British War and Victory Medals.

[Alby]

I've got a book with a photo of Winston Churchill in, and he's wearing medals like captain Unwin. I'm not sure what year that was though. Alby.

[SFayers]

Considering the dates of the Army Orders granting the 1914/15 Star (Dec 1918), BWM (early July 1919?) and VM (early September 1919?), in terms of the medal ribbons (as opposed to the actual medals) being issued to men still in service, would it have been the case that men entitled would have recieved 1914/15 Star ribbons early 1919, BWM ribbons mid to late summer, and VM ribbons autumn 1919?

If this was the case, then I guess it would be potentially useful for dating contemporary photos of serving men with medal ribbons. So, let's say, a photo of chap wearing both BWM and VM ribbons could be dated to post-September 1919, whereas if he had only the BWM ribbon (assuming he fought in a theatre of war) the photo would be dated sometime between July and September / early autumn 1919. (Just a thought!)

cheers

Steve

[Andrew Upton]

Does seem rather unfair that if you are still serving in some cases you had to wait the longest .You would have thought if you are still serving you would have been first in the queue.MC

I believe that was the case, and efforts were made so that serving soldiers received theirs first for wear at parades, etc, although as illustrated here that clearly didn't always work out!

[Staffsyeoman]

Partner's maternal grandfather's MM (for an action in 1917) came in the post in 1923...

[wulsten]

I have a war diary entry of soldiers receiving 14 stars in France

[Alby]

It dosen't seem fair receiving medals through the post, I know we're talking about millions of them but surely there could have been a better way of awarding them. Alby.