Ed_Haynes

By (about) 1922, he received promotion to First Grade Clerk.

He also served in Waziristan in the early 1920s and received a second commendation on 1 April 1923.

This suggests a missing clasp "Waziristan 1921-24".

On 16 May 1920 he received a certificate of notice from the commander of the Waziristan Force.

By 1919 he is reassigned, in the context of the Third Afghan War, to Dera Ismail Khan where he continued to preform well.

In the context of this service, he received two awards we frequently see mentioned but rarely see documented.

A grant of land on 8 March 1920 (in poor shape and too large to fit easily on the scanner).

Through the war, all of his work seems to have been in the area around Bannu, and some was rather mundane indeed. The work of the usual clerk.

Having obtained his third class matriculation at the University of the Panjab in 1912, Ram Rakha seems to have entered pretty directly into British service.

On 7 January 1913, he received the first of his (eventually twenty surviving) "chits", testimonials of good behavior and competent performance from a string of British engineering officials. These would stretch through 1923 and -- as this first specimen does -- attest to ". . . a young man of sober habits . . . . [Who] is hard-working & intelligent & also writes a good hand . . . ."

Education, part two:

One thing that makes the group espoecially interesting is the quantity of documentation that came with it. Not normal stuff (no BEM certificate, for example), but exotic and "real" stuff. It came all rolled up inside a tin tube and not in the best of condition.

Some samples follow.

His education, part one:

Head Clerk Lala Ram Rakha Singh, Military Works Service

Now properly dressed:

1- BEM (civil) - "LALA RAM RAKHA"

2- BWM - "RAM RAKHA, M.W.S."

3- Victory - "RAM RAKHA, M.W.S."

4- IGS 08 "Afghanistan NWF" - "CLK. RAM RAKHA, M.W.S."

B.E.M. is in London Gazette 12 June 1941 to "Lala Ram Rakha, Head Clerk, Office of the Commander, Royal Engineers, Waziristan District, North-West Frontier Province" - the recommendation has not been captured but it lies (absconding) in PSV file 10(2)-H/1941 in New Delhi - I am 100% certain it is a retirement gift for someone whose salary was below the threshold for a title.

Maybe not "sexy" by all tastes, but this is the person whose work made the empire function!

I did not know that such organizations were still around!

Yeah, these new Baltic states are pretty "out of the closet" about such things. I could go on . . . .

All of sub-Saharan Africa (except maybe South Africa) is a real problem zone. Specimens are scarce, reliable information is even scarcer.

Megan -- http://www.medals.org.uk/ -- has some of the best information and images around and what we have at the OMSA site -- http://www.omsa.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=679 -- is, at best, fragmentary.

Help!

I am surprised that nobody comments on this.

Me too. Was hoping to learn from the learned wise ones.

To drag us back toward topic -- and we are really not THAT far off -- all of this, the new Air Force doo-dad and the overlapping mess of awards and policies for service in Iraq and Afghanistan, just show how the US awards "system" is like a runaway locomotive, with no planning, no direction, no forethought. The designers and the implementers of policy are simply designing THINGS on a computer with no understanding of phaleristic or heraldic standards (much less coherent and logical award regulations). However much people may (reasonably) complain about recent UK, Canadian, Australian, ____ awards, they have a way to go to descend to the depths of the USA.

And here is an effort at "clarification".

ACM_and_ICM_Implementing_Instructions_CHANGE_1.pdf

It does get confusing, Im wearing at the moment the GWOTSM ,GWOTEM AND the Iraq campaign medal.... most don't get both (Iraq and GWOTEM) mot guys got the expeditionary medal which means no Iraq campaign or vice versa. I was stuck in Kuwait for a little over a month which earned me the GWOTEM then once in Iraq I got the campaign medal which technically is a different Theatre.....wheeeew not sure if that makes much sense

Eric

Absolutely, Eric, my understanding is that it is:

1- Expedtiionary

2- Iraq

3- Afghanistan

Pick two.

At least that is how it was (seems to have been) at first. The planning and forethought seems scant (on medals too).

Obviously, there was no original intent of instituting the two specific theater medals and using the one-size fits all expeditionary medal. Moreover, I don't think there was the belief that these wars would go on the way they have. So far, I have heard nothing on campaign stars (or redeployment numbers, like the UN medals?). As multiple tours, in either or both, become universal, here's something else that wants reexamination.

And of course the venerable National Defence Service Medal.

Taken together, these make the design and execution of the new Air Force gong look professional and artistic.

For Iraq

For Afghanistan

Yes, remember there are TWO medals for The War Against Terror, an "expeditionary" medal and a "service" medal. In additional to the National Defense Service Medal and the separate medals for Iraq and Afghanistan. Much confusion has ensued.

I'm not so sure that he isn't entitled to the GSM "S E Asia 1945-46". The 4/17th were in Vietnam. I have one such medal to the 4/17th, with his medal entitlement and a photo. He isn't entitled to the India Service Medal.

Thanks, Michael, will have to check the post-1945 IALs in detail. Should have done that when they were all at hand but

I thought for a bit that he might be with the 3/17th (as there was a MC VCO over there by the same name), but he seems to have gone to the 4/17th on their raising 1 October 1940 (as a raising Jemadar).

British Mandate (1918-1932)

Between 1920 and 1922 the British put down an Iraqi revolt costing them 40 million pounds to do so.

Anyone any idea, how much this current occupation has cost?

Remember that, since it was "East of Suez", most of the cost of the pervious war was paid from Indian revenues and not part of the UK budget (and probably not in these figures).

But, taking just that, and using GDP to index the conversion, that ?40,000,000 in 1920 would be ?8,199,156,662.76 in 2005.

See: http://measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/

And the final chunk-o-documents.

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/VBL2.pdf

Enjoy! (Enjoy?)

A nice one, fellow worker. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, a clear closeup scan of the serial number and mintmark area would help.

Great images. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post them.

In short: Invasion, occupation, establishment of a foreign-derived puppet government, rising (and untimately successful) resistance to the foreigners and their hand-picked rulers.

While more dangerous that the usual Wikipedia pieces, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ir...hy_and_republic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_hist....281918-1932.29

For example, the "revolt" certainly wasn't over in 1922. It was just that, from a British perspective, "victory" was declared (without benefit of an aircraft carrier) but the fighting continued pretty much unabated until the overthow of the Hashemite rulers and the expulsion of the British in 1958.