gavinmedals

Great uniform and medal grouping. Thank you for sharing the pictures. Gavin

Hi Hardinge, great group and thank you for the information. Really appreciate it.

William, thanks for the note. Good to see you online again. Certainly will look out for it when it is released. On a side note I also have a private published history written by an SSB office for the period of 1939 - 1945. With the information shared above I will make a plan to go through it as it is a fairly significant document. Cheers Gavin

Very interesting items, thank you for sharing. Indeed looking forward to a new book on the SSB that will cover a full period of the history relating the unit. I have a copy of an older book on the SSB by Cmdt W Otto that covers the period from 1933 to 1973. It is bilingual i.e. English and Afrikaans and has some interesting photos relating to uniforms and equipment.

Hi Mervyn, thank you, I have contacted Audrey. She is also assisting me wiht some other research which I will communicate some info on other Police groups once I receive them.

A picture of the group to inspector Whitsitt, BPP for interest sake:

Hi All, I recently purchased the group of 8 to inspector William Charles Whitsitt from the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police, consisting of: Colonial Police Medal (GVIR, 2nd Issue) for Gallantry, 39-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence medal, War medal, Africa Service Medal and Army LSGC (GVIR, 2nd Issue) Bechuanaland. All medals are correctly named. The group came with copies of the WW II service records for his time in the South African Forces. The CPM for Gallantry was gazetted in the London Gazette on 28th August 1951. As usual there was no details of the citation in the gazette, however I believe that the detail would usually be published in the Colonial gazette. I am hoping that someone in the forum can either help with where I can access the information or alternatively perhaps has a copy of the citation please.

Apologies cannot help with the two lapel pins, however appreciate sharing of the groups. Interesting topic / theme.

Hi, I had a quick look in the latest Medal Yearbook 2013, and according to them the KSA was never issued on its own but in conjunction with the QSA subject to appropriate qualifying service. The KSA without the SA01 and SA02 clasps are known, with about 600 nurses and a few odd men receiving them. Single clasp KSA's are rated as being very rare. A quick look at British Battles and Medals, resulted in a reference to no clasp KSA's to 587 nurses. They also confirm that the KSA was not awarded without the QSA. It is important to note that the QSA could be awarded with no KSA based on service in the Boer War predating January 1901.

Paul, in terms of your question, two decorations would not be worn. A relevant bar would be mounted on the ribbon, these do differ based on the relevant decoration. I attach a photo of the VC and Bar group to Charles Upham, that I photographed on a recent visit to New Zealand. The group is on display at the Army museum on North Island, which is well worth a visit. Apologies that it is a bit dark but it shows the bar to the VC mounted on the ribbon as would be the practice. Hope this helps to clarify.

Hi, as per the other members, thank you for taking the time to share your great and comprehensive collection. It was great to see!!

Hi, a rather belated thank you. I will contact and see if there is some additional information can be sourced in terms of the groups I have.

Jean Paul, thank you for the posting. It was great to read the citations and know there are still people out there who will go to the aid of others.

Hi Paul, while I am sure there are others with perhaps more accurate information on your question, the only reference I have is an article by the late Gordon Bickley, entitled "The numbers of Blacks, Coloureds, Malays and Indians who served in the UDF in the two world wars", and published in the Military Medal Society of South Africa Newsletter, Newsletter #294. According to this information a total of 25 000 females served in South African forces during WW II. This represents about 7% of the total of 342 700. Of interest according to another article there were more than one prefix used to denote female service personnel in WW II, namely F = Women Auxiliary Air Force, W = Women Auxiliary Army Service, WN = Women Auxiliary Navy Service. Hope this helps.

Hi, no the medals I have seen are not inscribed but rather impressed naming. The naming is very similar in style to that illustrated in the other medals in this section. If interested I can try and take some photos of the naming on one or two examples. Please let me know.

Hi, Thank you for the pictures of the SAP group. In terms of the Medal for Faithful Service, or the SA Police Medal for Faithful Service, I have double checked the sources I have and according to the Terence King book this medal was originally instituted to recognise 18 years service in the 1960's. It was subsequently adjusted to recognise 10years service in a warrant published in May 1979. As far as naming is concerned on this specific medal, I have a number of examples in my collection and inspected a few others that have all been named with the SAP force number, rank, initials, surname and date of award. The naming was done on the rim of the medals in the cases I have viewed. I would be keen to hear if you managed to source some information on the person as I have been fairly unlucky with researching SA Police groups thus far and have relied heavily on information and some of the citations that are published in Terence King's book.

Hi, I noticed this topic and even though it has been a while, I recall there being a good article written by Henk Loots regarding the ABO. It was published in the OMRS Journal, the now defunct South African Military Medal Society and later in one of City Coins Auction Catalogues, Auction no 57. It showed there are essentially three types of ABO medal classifiying them as type A,B and C. Each with unique characteristcs relating to the suspenders and the naming, which could aid in narrowing down the identity of the receipient when compared to the dates of application through the "Vorm B". This is especially handy if there are more than one person with the same name in the Medal Roll that was compiled by Don Forsyth. If there still is interest in further info I can have a look for the article and be more specific after I return from three weeks of travels.

Hi, great find. While I cannot answer the question, i would believe it is a rare occurence. I am aware of two groups in South Africa, where the individuals served in the German Army in WW I and then had subsequent service in the South African army in WW II. Both these groups come with the medals and some paperwork confirming the German service. Unfortunately never managed to acquire one of these.

Thank you very much. It may also be of value for a perspective on the Murmansk Convoys.

Thank you I have read and looked at the illustrations with great interest. I have a group in my collection of most likely a South African shipmate on HMS Shropshire, G.G. Middleton. He received the 39-45. Atlantic and Africa Stars, Defence Medal, War Medal and Africa Service medal all named as per the South African practise. He also received the Russian medals for 40 yrs, 50 yrs and 55 yrs. I have some badges, documents and various correspondence that came with the group which refers to an article he wrote regarding his experiences in the Murmansk convoys that was published in the November 1989 edition of the MOTH magazine, "Home Front". Despite a number of enquiries through different channels I have been unable to locate a copy of the article and wonder whether any of the Forum members may actually have a copy of this information or know where back issues of the "Home Front" can be found as it would greatly help complete his story.