[UK Citizens Only] Petition to create Medal for ex- PoWs.

Discussion in 'General' started by Calder Claydon, Mar 15, 2019.

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  1. bamboo43 and Incredibledisc like this.
  2. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    Signed.

    Good luck. I managed to get 500 signatures for a 1940 campaign medal which I felt many of the POWs taken in France and Flanders deserved - somewhat short of the 10,000 needed to get a an official response. I wrote to the MOD, lobbied my MP, Got a letter published in the Daily Telegraph, started a Facebook group and even wrote to the Queen ...all to no avail. Next stop the Scottish Parliament!
     
  3. I should probably message my local MP.
    Please sign mine, let's get our vets what they deserve!
     
    Incredibledisc likes this.
  4. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  5. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    It isn’t. Not much different to those “commemorative coins” you see in the back Sunday Papers. I had originally considered lobbying for a POW medal but felt going for a campaign medal had a better chance. POWs are associated with defeat and medals are usually to celebrate victory or bravery etc so from a psychological standpoint it made more sense to highlight the fighting the men had done as the reason for the medal while pointing to their suffering a POWs as added reason to recognise their sacrifice.
     
    Calder Claydon likes this.
  6. Aye
     
  7. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Good luck with the petition Calder. My grandfather died as a POW in Rangoon Jail in June 1943, so I have a vested interest in your endeavours.
     
  8. God Bless your Grandfather.
    Let's help these Veterans.
     
  9. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    My MP met me and was quite supportive as an ex-forces bloke an WW2 buff. He did his bit and wrote to the MOD on my behalf but there’s not much appetite from them to revisit the events of 80 years ago. For reference - It took about 12 years to get an Arctic Convoy Medal and a Memorial to Bomber Command veterans! Sadly there are very few living veterans left now who could claim a medal and who could act as a focus for any campaign.

    Perhaps less well known was a medal finally awarded to those who were on the Lancastria when it was sunk in 1940. The Scottish Government lobbied Westminster to get one made and after they said no they went ahead and made their own. As my great granddad was in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and I live in Scotland I figured I might have more lick trying them.
     
  10. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Perhaps, if we are young enough to wait for the centenary then attitudes may change ? By 2045 there may be a strong and stable government able to give some attention to those who gave all that they were able in support of parliamentary democracy. In the meantime, the self-serving bastards don't even know if the Government will still exist by this time next week.
     
    Drew5233, CL1 and Incredibledisc like this.

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