Was Silver War Badge issued or applied for?

[dravin]

Dear all

A simple enough question regarding the Silver War Badge

Was it issued automatically to all discharged under qualifying circumstances or did a man have to apply for one

In other words if a man is not found on the SWB rolls can we assume he did not get one and therefore did not qualify for one

Any help or advice appreciated

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Hi dravin;The War Badge had to be applied for,it was then subject to a decision by a Army Medical board as to wether the applicant was deemed entitled to a Badge & Certificate.

whilst in this game you should not "assume" anything,usually if there is no Badge issuing documentation or SWB/List indicator on the MiCs then it is unlikely a Badge was issued on application,Many records where they survive do contain correspondence relating to SWB issue,usually in the form of "I applied for my badge xx Months agohaving served xx years at the front,men who havent been abroad are wearing one,where is mine!!!...?"

There was no compulsion to apply so men who were entitled to may not have wanted to go through the rigmarole of yet another Army application justt to get the Badge,though it did have certain related non cash benefits

HB

[dravin]

Thanks Harry much appreciated

No I try never to assume anything but wanted clarification of what I thought to be the case which you have kindly supplied

Whilst advising another researcher a niggling doubt crept in and I just wanted to be sure my facts were straight and thank you for confirming it

The latest SWB rolls on Ancestry brought the subject to the fore

Much appreciated

There was no compulsion to apply so men who were entitled to may not have wanted to go through the rigmarole of yet another Army application justt to get the Badge,though it did have certain related non cash benefits

HB

[NigelS]

Hi Dravin,

There was a good but lengthy thread on the issue of SWBs a while back Click; If I remember correctly some evidence was presented that the 'application' may, in some cases but not necessarily in all, have become part of the discharge process in the latter stages of the war, but not conclusive by any means...

NigelS

[dravin]

Thanks for that, having read through the thread twice I am still none the wiser as to the conclusion to draw it :-)

I will take Harrys post as stated and look into it a little further

Thanks for your input

Hi Dravin,

There was a good but lengthy thread on the issue of SWBs a while back Click; If I remember correctly some evidence was presented that the 'application' may, in some cases but not necessarily in all, have become part of the discharge process in the latter stages of the war, but not conclusive by any means...

NigelS