Tengah - we will be pleased to see you. Terry Dennett is Sec and his wife Beryl Dennett Stannard is Madam la Presidente. They will be pleased to hear from you at [email protected]


Cheers W

WanderOO

Many thanks. Job done.

Actually, TT, he was awarded the 'Order of Friendship'.

Did he sort Vlad out with a nice watch ;) ?

the cost, the cost...
 

Out of nostalgia, i had my LSGCM and clasp court mounted along with my other round medals, along with the miniatures. i sought out quotes from the usual suspects but ended up getting a colleague from MOD to get them done at Wellington Barracks.

All I can say is what a mess. Wrong ribbon for a foreign one (I provided new ribbons) and all crooked. The miniature LSGCM is of extremely poor quality and was mounted without the clasp! Apparently the tailor sent them to Deepcut...anyway it also costed me a cool £98.

As I have highlighted in the "Do you believe Mrs May" Christmas message to the Armed forces thread, I also see that the dichotomy of support for Service veterans and political words remains in full flood in respect of the insulting imposition of the post May 2014 limiting date of the LSGC award. Merry Christmas to you to Mrs May! :p

OAP

So how far back do you go then if you want retrospective awards?

Melchett, 1942 at least.

Well Meltchy, it would appear that the power of reason has prevailed in some cases of over 50 years. :D But, that is not the issue here. The validity of the case for alignment of awards for commissioned and non-commissioned personnel was a sound one. This is borne-out by the introduction of the present medal. However, the new absurd situation has been created, by limiting the new criteria to awards only to Officer's who retired after May 2014. By this purely mean spirited action, a greater prejudice has been created. Previously, most long serving Officer's would not qualify. Now, all Officers who serve long enough and retire after May 2014 can qualify but, regardless of how many decades one served, if you retired before May 2014 you will not be recognised. The stupidity of the 2014 rule is outstanding! :rolleyes:

Merry Christmas

OAP

PN, well why not 1916 then? There’s got to be a line somewhere, seems to me this was one of those issues that was always going to be a case of the wrong decision.

Why? The award could have been made back to any date, with the caveat that the gong would only be presented free to those still in service, if the cost is such a big issue for the "Fifth largest economy in the world"? :rolleyes:

OAP

29 Jul 14. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility#current-meritorious-and-long-service-medals

Melchett, AFAIK the only medals awarded in 1916 were Pop, Squeak and Wilfred. You qualified or you didn't. There was no contention over qualification. The Arctic Star was retrospective and awarded to retired personnel or their NOK.

The LSGC medal was also retrospective and similarly awarded to retired personnel and NOK (among others) but limited to an arbitrary period.

Also The Mercantile Marine Medal P-N - but I'm just being pedantic! ;)

'ang about a bit.

Wasn't there something called the Territorial Force Medal (or similar) 1914-1919, which was issued in 1920 to people like nurses etc?

O-D

O-D, correct, so that pushes precedent back to 4 Aug 1914. And it was an either or medal similar to Burma/Pacific Star.

OTOH setting criteria dates is something the committee seems love.

I am with OAP for those that want some bling.

I offer a couple of seeming inconsistencies, which perhaps ought to be examined.

RAF Reserve personnel in certain categories (eg those holding CC commissions, such as permanent staff at ATC HQs) were not eligible for any of the jubilee medals, even though the RAFVR(T) staff they commanded were. With the extension of the LSGCM to officers, this group is still ineligible.

The status of an officer who has left the service before 2014 but then returns to regular service, seems unclear. Can that person count their pre-2014 time as qualifying service towards the award of the LSGCM when they return to regular service?

Can I also cite a personal example of inconsistent regulations regarding medal awards.

On leaving the RAF, I was commissioned into the RAFVR(T) and could have 'claimed' three years regular service towards the 12 years required for the award of the Cadet Forces Medal (CFM). However, as I had a period as a civilian instructor with the ATC between the two commissions, I could not count those three years because there was a break of service. Now the unbroken service clause no longer applies for the CFM and so I have eligible cadets service over 18 plus three years regular service, with another three years since the award of the CFM and hence should have received a first clasp (6 more years) and be well on my way to a second clasp - BUT - apparently not.

Old Duffer

I'm not sure about the fairness of the LS&GCM for those currently serving. From what I've read:
15 years? In 2014 the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 tariff for a 4 year custodial sentence was reduced from 'never spent' to 7 years - yet the LS&GCM criteria for some mere 'Axminster shuffler' is more than twice that.... So someone deemed not to qualify for this piece of bling will be stigmatised for 15 years in a very public way whenever medals are to be worn?

Is that really fair in this day and age? Or should the 'free from sin' period be reviewed to reflect the amendments to the Act?

BEagle, and those who retired before the magic date carrying their discharge letter to prove they were not excluded be reasons of some crime.

The whole LS&GC for officers issue is pathetic and smacks of a medal system that is outdated and totally out of touch with those that receive them.

'Indeed there was O-D. To clarify, it was only awarded to territorials who had completed 4 years service before 4 August 1914, and who had undertaken to serve outside the Uk (not compulsory for territorials). As P-N correctly states it was an either/or medal - you couldn't get this one and the 1914 or 1914-Star. Consequently it is a scarce medal, only 34,000 were issued as opposed to well over 2 million 1914-15 Stars.

As you say it was awarded to nurses but only those who met the above requirements.

It's worth pointing out that qualification criteria were very tough at the time. I once bought a single British War Medal to a soldier who had been lost at sea when his transport ship was torpedoed on its way out to the Dardanelles. I assumed his 1914-15 Star and Victory Medal had been lost, but research showed that he had never been awarded them, as he was deemed never to have been on active service - getting torpedoed and drowned didn't count! Something to think about for those who are moaning that they are not going to get the LS&GC!