Chugalug, I must say I agree that I could never see the logic of cutting off the qualification period for both the ACE and Atlantic Stars at D Day, but for good or ill nothing is going to alter it now.
Interesting point about Irish membership of the Commonwealth,
teeteringhead. Does that mean that the king was the Irish head of state during the war?
Finningly Boy, I'm going to have to start charging you for educating you about WW2 medals
. The 1939-45 Star started life as the 1939-43 Star, and the ribbon (but not the medal itself) was issued for wear from 1943 on. I have a photo somewhere of my father wearing it alongside the Africa Star ribbon sometime in 1943 or 44. You do get a lot of mistakes in films I agree, ribbons in the wrong order, upside down, etc, but in this case they seemed to be ok, other than rather too many DFCs and AFCs than you'd expect to find.