Post war medal issues?

[Gordon Caldecott]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me, when they stopped issueing, Memorial Plaques?

I was surfer the CWGC site, for casualties called John Martin ( I have a plaque to this name), I discovered one to 25680 Sgt John Martin Royal Irish Rifles, buried in Baghdad War Cemetery, cause of death unknown i.e KIA/DOW/Died?? anyway the date is the interesting part 22/08/20, which I think am correct in saying was during the Campaign for which the GSM Iraq was issued, however, does anyone know if this soldier would also have been untitled to a Memorial Plaque?

[LtColSki USMC0302]

Gordon,

Memorial plaques were issued for a few years after the armistice. It is entirely possible for your man to have died in Iraq and his NOK to have been issued the plaque. I've PM'd you with a link to a thread which goes into some detail on the issue.

You are right about the Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Iraq clasp. Fusiliers on LOC duty during operations in Iraq from 10 December 1919 to 17 November 1920 earned the Iraq clasp to the GSM. A number of them went on to earn another clasp for operations in N.W. Persia from 10 August 1920 to 31December 1920. As you can see there is some overlap, so theoretically, your man could have died in N.W. Persia. Information on these operations seems pretty thin on the ground but if forced to make a guess, I'd say it's more likely that your man died in Iraq than in N.W. Persia. Apparently the early months in N.W. Persia were pretty tame as far as fighting, although there apparently was a malaria problem. Anyway, that's about all I can offer on the subject. Best of luck.

By the way, I'm trying to piece together any information I can on the RIF in Iraq and NW Persia so I'd be happy to hear from anyone with insights or information on the subject.

Best wishes,

~Dan

[Terry Denham]

buried in Baghdad War Cemetery, cause of death unknown i.e KIA/DOW/Died?? anyway the date is the interesting part 22/08/20,

Gordon

This date is not unusual.

The cut-off date for CWGC War Grave status for WW1 is 31.08.21.

This is the date WW1 officially ended for the UK as that was the day Parliament declared the war to be ended following the signing of all the necessary peace treaties and post-fighting 'sorting out'!

However, memorial plaques are unconnected with CWGC and the authorities continued to issue them for many years. A search of the Forum should produce some info for you.