Doing some research for a friend whose Grandfather served with the East Yorkshire Regt. in WWII. Signed up for the reserves in 1936. Mobilized September 1939 and went to France with the BEF. Evacuated at Dunkirk and given a home posting until sent out to Cyprus, Israel and onto North Africa with his Regt. Captured at the Battle of Gazala in 1942 and held prisoner in both Italy and Germany. His service file states he was awarded the 1939-1945 War Medal, Africa Star and 1939-1945 Star. I would have thought he would have been entitled to the Defence Medal as well, but is not listed, so can anyone explain please why he did not meet the qualification period.
The service record may not be an accurate statement of medal entitlement, it was not in the case of my father in law. Try asking the medal office, we got other medals that way.
Billy We have been here before ! http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/3049-defence-medal/ If you spend a few minutes on this thread you will see that I have yet to find why I was awarded the Defence Medal Ron
It does seem something of a lottery, having looked at my Dad's service record I can see nothing on there that matches the criteria for an award but there it is listed with his stars and war medal. Very odd but as Tom would say, these records are kept by lazy incompetent pen pushers so what do you expect.
Billy MOD criteria for Defence Medal - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility#defence-medal-1939-to-1945 Criteria The Defence Medal was awarded for non operational service. This type of service in the UK included those service personnel working in headquarters, on training bases and airfields and members of the Home Guard. Home Guard service counts between the dates of 14 May 1940 and 31 December 1944. The Defence Medal was also awarded for non operational service overseas, for example in India or South Africa. The table below shows the qualifying time required depending on the area served. Area Time required UK 1080 days Overseas non-operational 360 days Overseas non-operational with close threat or air attack 180 days Hope it helps TD
