MEDAL FOR BAOR TROOPS

G'day guys. Question: Was there ever a medal struck and awarded to blokes who served in BAOR, say from 1946 to present day?

The early BAOR lads would have done it tough, resentment from the German civvies, poor living conditions, bombeded areas, food shortages etc.

We were in Wuppertal circa 1954 and Dortmund, circa 1959 and cannot recollect any BAOR gongs awarded to my old man. I have got his gongs, the WW2 defence medals and stars plus the Italy Star and France/Germany Star.

No Les...Only commemorative

Beachley Boy wrote:

G'day guys. Question: Was there ever a medal struck and awarded to blokes who served in BAOR, say from 1946 to present day?

The early BAOR lads would have done it tough, resentment from the German civvies, poor living conditions, bombeded areas, food shortages etc.

We were in Wuppertal circa 1954 and Dortmund, circa 1959 and cannot recollect any BAOR gongs awarded to my old man. I have got his gongs, the WW2 defence medals and stars plus the Italy Star and France/Germany Star.

,


We lived in Dortmund from 1972 - 1976 and I can honestly say it was the worst Posting that we had, I don't think the place had changed that much from when you lived there in '59, Les. Did you live in Camp 7? Best Posting we had was Lippstadt, lovely little town with very friendly inhabitants, I still go back every few years for a trip down Memory Lane, Churchill Barracks has now become Social Housing so it has gone down a bit since the British Army kept it clean!

i was in viersen 56- 59 our depot was an old german coffee factory taken over after the war , the office block was our billets and very comfortable , a very old building but it had central heating and double glazing. i never knew those luxuries in blighty , 15 pfennigs a glass of beer, appy days , ginger

Said this earlier on mate, and a couple of knobjockeys on here made silly remarks about it!

Gordon,

Seen quite a number of people wearing these commemoratives at various parades etc. What the heck are they for and why do they wear them. Seems as though some folk measure importance to the number of medals that a person might wear. Talking about that, I see the royals even have their own medal. A sort of zigzag pattern Wonder what that is .

Jimsigs1

[quote="Shelldrake

We lived in Dortmund from 1972 - 1976 and I can honestly say it was the worst Posting that we had, I don't think the place had changed that much from when you lived there in '59, Les. Did you live in Camp 7? Best Posting we had was Lippstadt, lovely little town with very friendly inhabitants, I still go back every few years for a trip down Memory Lane, Churchill Barracks has now become Social Housing so it has gone down a bit since the British Army kept it clean! [/quote]

I think we touched on this subject not long ago but anyway, my best posting was definitely Hemer. Beautiful area, nice locals.

We shared the place with the Royal Irish Rangers, (both battalions) for most of the 70s and you couldn't wish for a more harmonious posting.

Talking about medals, official or otherwise, get a load of these




Belonged to a former member of The Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Jimsigs1

Quote :

I see the royals even have their own medal. A sort of zigzag pattern Wonder what that is .

The Queens Service Order. Jim

Hi Gordon,

Found it -many thanks




Jimsigs1

Not the best looking medal i`ve ever seen.Reminds me of the Pilsbery dough man..

Gordon,

I think this is the little fella you are referring to :-




Jimsigs1

I would like to think with BFG closing apparantly for good by 2020 they could sort out a commerative event at the very least? Of course, there was no action on the field of battle so to speak, but we where all told of the potential threat from the soviet bloc etc etc.... and what could have happened?????

As stated earlier, many of us loved our time in BFG. And i would be prod to wear even a badge commerating my time there. A commerative medal , i dont think id wear. Only operational medals eant in N Ireland and Bosnia.

Tommy,

Don't forget the other operational medals since WW2 ie
GSM 1918-62 with clasps Cyprus, Palastine, Malaya, Canal Zone, Near East, South-East Asia, Arabian Penisula, Brunei & Bomb and Mine Clearance 1945–49.

GSM 1962- with clasps Radfan, South Arabia, Malay Penisula, South Vietnam (Aussies), Northern Ireland (already mentioned), Borneo (already mentioned), Mine clearance Gulf of Suez, Dhofar, Lebanon,
Gulf (Persian), Kuwait, N. Iraq & S. Turkey & Air Operations Iraq.

The African General Service Medal 1902-56 (Kenya)

British War Medal Korea (1950-53)

South Atlantic Medal (1982)

Gulf Medal (1962)


Operational Service Medals for :
Sierra Leone (2000)
Afghanistan (2002 - present)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (2003)

Iraq Medal (2004-11)
Iraq Reconstruction Medal (2004-present)

A few medals here where lives were lost etc

Jimsigs1

Sorry mate of course many more in all the conflicts you mentioned. Selfishly refurring to my two op tours no offence meant to anyone involved in any other wars/conflicts.

Tommy,

No offence given and I'm sure you are as proud to wear your awards for Bosnia & N Ireland as all others for their particular theatres of operation.

Shame about the latest situation where by not medal was issued for those engaged in dangerous in work escorting convoys in the North Atlantic to Russia. It took 50 years for the Suez bar to GSM to be issued. Now, had that been the USA, that's another story.

Jimsigs1

Not worried about a medal for my time in BAOR (I loved it over there 1983 to 2000), I have seen some people wearing BAOR lapel pins similar to the Armed Forces Veterans one though. I presume privately bought like the commemorative medals.

jimsigs1 wrote:

Talking about medals, official or otherwise, get a load of these




Belonged to a former member of The Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Jimsigs1

Well Well, Monty wearing Bling what next

Daveb, well spotted. Must have been a clue or two there.


Jimsigs1

jimsigs1 wrote:

Tommy,

No offence given and I'm sure you are as proud to wear your awards for Bosnia & N Ireland as all others for their particular theatres of operation.

Shame about the latest situation where by not medal was issued for those engaged in dangerous in work escorting convoys in the North Atlantic to Russia. It took 50 years for the Suez bar to GSM to be issued. Now, had that been the USA, that's another story.

Jimsigs1

There was a medal for those escorting the convoys to Russia. It was given out rather late by the Russian govt. I remember seeing it in the paper or Legion Magazine. It went only to those still alive. Possibly it was meant for merchant navy I'm not sure.

Hardrations,

Here it is, The Russian Convoy Medal :
here


Jimsigs1

jimsigs1 wrote:

Hardrations,

Here it is, The Russian Convoy Medal :
here


Jimsigs1

Right. So who qualified for it?

From http://www.veterans-uk.info/medals/russian.html

The Russian Convoy Medal

The awarding of Russian Medals to British veterans
In the past, the Russian Government has offered medals to British veterans to commemorate significant anniversaries of the end of the Second World War. An approach was made to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) by the Russian authorities in the mid-1980s when their 40th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War Medal (also known more commonly as the Russian Convoy Medal) was offered to British ex-Servicemen. Originally instituted in 1985 and offered to British veterans shortly afterwards, permission was not granted for it to be accepted and worn at that time. Some years later, further official approaches by the Russians to the British Government through the FCO were reconsidered. In 1994 The Queen granted permission for this medal to be accepted and worn by eligible British citizens. This was considered acceptable in the light of changed circumstances in Russia since the medal was first issued, the improvement in relations between the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation, and the fact that the medal was a commemorative issue, recognising the passing of forty years since the end of the war, rather than a foreign campaign medal. It was made clear at that time that it was not envisaged that permission would be given for any future anniversary medals issued by foreign or Commonwealth Governments to be accepted and worn by British citizens where they related to services wholly rendered more than five years prior to the proposal to make the award.

Despite this, the Russian authorities made a similar approach to the British Government in 1995 when they produced their 50th Anniversary of Victory commemorative medal. They were advised that permission to receive and wear this medal would not be sought from The Queen as The Sovereign does not recognise awards that commemorate an anniversary where permission has already been granted to receive and wear an award for an earlier anniversary of the same event.
Following discussions we have had with our counterparts in the FCO we can confirm that last year the Russian authorities approached them with a formal request that their new 60th anniversary medal be awarded to British veterans. As with the other Russian medals this is entirely a matter for the FCO which is carefully deliberating the request, as are all similar requests from foreign governments.

Arctic veterans who did not apply for the Russian Convoy Medal (the 40th anniversary medal) will be pleased to learn that the Ministry of Defence Medal Office has located a small stock of medals which were not sent out during the mid-Nineties. They will issue these on a first come, first served basis to all those veterans who served on the convoys to Northern Russia who had not previously applied for the medal. In common with other Russian medals, the Russian Convoy Medal is not awarded posthumously. Please complete the attached application form and send it to the medal office. You should bear in mind that in view of the continued interest in medals, parcticularly since the events last year to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, there will be an unavoidable delay before any medals will be issued.

Application form for the medal

http://www.veterans-uk.info/pdfs/medals/russian.pdf

tommy16 wrote:

Said this earlier on mate, and a couple of knobjockeys on here made silly remarks about it!

HALLO ZERO

THIS IS BRUM

LEAVING YOUR NET

OUT