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Archiver > GREATWAR > 2000-11 > 0973404188


From: Iain Kerr <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] Military Medal - Dardanelles
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 06:03:08 +0000
In-Reply-To: <00bc01c046a8$5aba9040$1cf8883e@v2n0r1>


At 21:42 04/11/00, Dave Banks wrote:
>I have an ancestor (Herbert Edward Banks) who served in the
>Dardanelles as a Signaller with the 1/4th Northants in 1914 and 15. In
>his effects is a medal bar with a Military Medal. The family know
>nothing of how it was earned, nor when, and are naturally intrigued.
>Anybody got any ideas?

Dave,

Military Medal (MM)

The Military Medal was instituted on 25 Mar 1916. It was originally
intended for award to NCOs and men of the British Army, including the Royal
Flying Corps, for individual or associated acts of bravery not of
sufficient heroism to merit the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). As such
it was the third ranking soldier's decoration for gallantry after the
Victoria Cross and the DCM - it equated to the Military Cross awarded to
commissioned officers. The medal was extended to women in Jun 1916.

It is a silver medal bearing the sovereign's head on the obverse and on the
reverse the crowned royal cypher above the inscription "FOR BRAVERY IN THE
FIELD" enclosed in a wreath. The medal is named on the rim. The ribbon
has broad dark blue edges flanking a central section of three narrow white
and two narrow crimson vertical stripes.

During WWI the numbers issued were: 115,577 MMs; 5,796 first bars (for a
soldier who was awarded the MM a second time); 180 second bars and one
third bar.

Citations and Gazetting

Awards of the MM and other gallantry awards are published in the Supplement
to The London Gazette (the official newspaper of the UK Government). The
Supplement is the source of the extracts published today in The Times and
The Daily Telegraph, here in UK. Archived copies of the London Gazette may
be found in major reference libraries in the UK including the PRO, the
Guildhall Library, London and the Newspaper Library (part of the British
Library). The London Gazette Indexes for the war years are on open shelves
at the Public Record Office, Kew.

In the main, MM awards were merely listed, in The London Gazette with no
citation. Therefore you have very little chance of tracing a citation,
since it seems that most of the World War I citations (of the 116,000 or so
awarded between 1916-20) do not appear to have been retained.

Yours aye,

Iain Kerr
In Windsor, Berkshire
Web Page at: http://home.clara.net/iainkerr/index.htm
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