Unknown British (?) medal

Testerchild · 17 July 2008, 05:36 AM

Hi All,

Herewith a photo of the medal ribbons on the tunic of Lt. R.W. White of 20 Squadron, RFC.

From left to right, the medals are the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and…one other that eludes both me, and the tunic’s current owner, Forumite ‘Lesdee’. He does not have the medal that would have gone with the ribbon.

The ribbon comprises 12 vertical lines of identical width. Colours are, from left to right: Red, Gold, Blue, White, Red, Blue, White, Light Green, White, Red, Gold, Black

So with his permission, I pose the question: WHAT IS IT?

Advice greatly appreciated.

Bob

Lesdee · 17 July 2008, 11:17 AM

Bob,
Many thanks for putting this question, especially with the picture, on the forum for me. For anyone viewing this it is comnected with a recent thread on 20 Squadron REFC hope I have used the correct terminology here!).
Bob and I are both looking forward to responses.

Regards Les

Kirk R. Lowry · 18 July 2008, 02:33 PM

Bonjour Les

You will not find anyone at The Aerodrome who knows less about awards given to British airmen, but I wonder if the combination of colours on the ribbon would not represent some united powers award. Without having an exact means of registering the shades one would seem to be able to recognized the following nationalities; Romania, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium ...

Sorry, just an idea and not information ...

Salut
Kirk

Graeme · 19 July 2008, 01:10 PM

Les and Bob

The ribbon is unlike anything I've come across, but I'm quite confident that it is not a contemporary British award - by and large the ribbons were symmetrical about their mid point and this definitely aint!

I've tried comparing the ribbon to images I have of the awards made by the Allied nations but have found nothing remotely similar, but I'll keep looking.

Graeme

frpat · 19 July 2008, 10:26 PM

Bob,

all my references are at work ATM, but will look into it then - used to be in the Aust Army Medals section, so I have a few to check.

X - his Mark

Testerchild · 20 July 2008, 04:22 AM

Kirk and Graeme,

Thanks for the comments. I've also had suggestions it may be some kind of local municipal medal granted after the war, in which case it might be unusual to see it on a uniform.

frpat: I await your comments with interest.

Cheers

Bob

frpat · 21 July 2008, 09:19 PM

Bob,

I'm afraid it has me buggered.

I've found some with about the right number of stripes, but not in those colours (even if you invert the ribbon to read in the opposite order)

The possibility of an "Allied" award seems unlikely to me - the colours of the Victory Medal's ribbon were supposed to be just that - the rainbow in watered and shaded silk, though the medal itself varied by nation (The Empire being, of course, one nation in this regard).

Your thought that it might be one of the many unofficial medals issued by various local and/or patriotic bodies does seem likely - Kirk's comment on the national colours would certainly make sense if that were that case. But it is unusual to wear unofficial ribbons on uniform....

Let me stew on it a bit longer, maybe something will come to me.

X - his Mark

John White · 23 July 2008, 04:39 PM

This is one possible explanation. The Victory Medal was not issued until 1919, after many rumours about the design of the medal and its ribbon. In the interim private companies - apparently only in the UK - sold ribbons in a variety of unofficial patterns to service personnel. The combination of colours was intended to represent all the allied powers. A few examples of various types ended up in Australia after the war. These were most likely acquired by personnel transiting back via the UK on their way home. There are several examples in the collection of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra e.g. on the uniform of Sergeant R H L Lord of 2 Field Ambulance AIF, who return to Australia in mid-1919. Further examples of contemporary unofficial Victory Medal ribbons are held by the AWM, including some that were apparently confiscated from servicemen by military authorities. Enquiries in London in the 1950's failed to locate any hard information about their origins.

The combination of the real ribbon and the un-official pattern is unusual, but in practice there was quite a bit of variation in how ribbons were worn in the immediate post-war period.

I haven't seen full details of all the ribbon variations, but enquiries in Britain may yield a more definitive identification of the example on Lt. White's uniform.

I hope that this this info is of assistance.

frpat · 24 July 2008, 02:01 AM

John,

your suggestion certainly works for me - I've seen a number of examples of unofficial medals celbrating the War's end (including at least a couple with the name "Victory Medal" included in their design). Just wish I could say I'd seen that particular one, is all.

Cheers

X - his Mark

Testerchild · 24 July 2008, 01:07 PM

John:

Thanks very much for that. I think the 'unofficial' issue seems the only likely answer, and your info about the AWM and Sergeant R H L Lord is very interesting, and not something I knew before .

frpat:

It works for me too; and, like you, "Just wish I could say I'd seen that particular one, is all."

Many thanks to both of you for your time and effort. If I get anything fresh on this, I'll let you know.

Cheers

Bob