Philrigger
It is hard to believe that the awardee would not have been alive when the last commemorative was issued. I propose that he/she be awarded that medal retrospectively.
Of course you are right about the 1939-45 War Medal and I am not so old as to have made the mistake out of experience. Still, you knew what I meant …
Tankertrashnav
I agree about not putting the emblem in a campaign medal, except where already provided for – but I was proposing a (newly awarded if necessary, but previously issued) commemorative medal
Thanks for the Sandhurst reference. I had seen nothing of that sort and am glad that someone has given an authoritative expression to the problem. In case anyone on this thread still has any interest in the discussion, I would make two suggestions for when Col Tinson should ever modify his paper:
Being Mentioned in Despatches initially meant that the individual’s name had been brought to the attention of the authorities in London by the Commander at the time, in the despatch he had written at a significant break or at the conclusion of operations.
I cannot prove it at the moment, but I believe there was a real convention (if never official) in respect of WWII for the first emblem to be mounted on the War Medal ribbon (thanks again, Phil) and for subsequent emblems to take position to the left across the adjacent campaign medal ribbons. I do not think this story changes what Col T says about the case when actual medals are worn.