Mike Smith

This is a genuine medal. Even though it was stated that all awards were to be named to the recipient, a large percentage are found unnamed. Some can be identified to a person from another 'named' medal in a group, but on their own .......... I currently have 24 LSEMs in my collection and have found about four unnamed. Todays awards of the LSEM are unnamed due to cost with jewellers charging anywhere from 10 to 20 dollars PER LETTER.

Per chance is there a recipients name on the medal at all

Would love to get any info on past members for my files

The 25th Battalion (Frontiersmen) Royal Fusiliers was a British unit made up entirely of Frontiersmen, saw action as a unit in East Africa in 1916 Photo of the 210th cap badge

Way back about WW1 era the Legion had representatives in very part of the world, and as time went on these people migrated or died off and so things got drastically smaller. It is thought that as there was a large group of NZer at Gallipoli in 1915, so much so that they were said to have held meetings under the guns, to the curiosity of the Turks. New Zealand put some 8500 soldiers into the Gallipoli campaign. So far I have found, and am still adding to, the 500 Legion members in my rolls that served there in those eight months of 1915. In fact one of those in the battlefield was the Commandant for New Zealand at the time. He later DOW and is buried at Ramleh War Cem, Israel and Palestine. He earned the MC and MiD on the peninsula.

That one's design is that used in the UK since pre WWII, as I understand it the early ones were gilt and had a tiny ring suspension. This one looks bronze and has a slightly larger ring, making it after WWII. I have never heard of any of this design being named. The ribbon is as below This example is of a bronze strike from the mid 1990's

I am hoping to fairly soon put together a self published book regarding the medals of the Legion to try and give people a way of identifying these

Current shoulder title Old New Zealand 'Fern' collar badge. Beware of this as there are good copies about the market Canadian member badge & Associate member badge New Zealand members badge New Zealand Woman's Auxiliary Legion of Frontiersmen large domed badge from WWII. Rarely seen today as there were very few manufactured and only three have been found in today's era

An early set of buttons, no longer used Early, probably 1920sish Imperial Frontiersman button Another large early button in gilt Disused Imperial button with matching shoulder title of the era

Another early cap badge Still to be identified Still to be identified

Thank you for the image of the badges. Over the years there have been many badges designed for the legion and which I will soonest try and upload some images of as many as I can locate. I have several in my collection. The badge set shown is quite an old set, not sure of the inclusive years but they are brass and probably pre WW2ish, some time later they started making sets in guilt, and then later again up until the present the badges, identical in design being made in Staybrite. This design is still the same as those we wear here in New Zealand today. Starting the images with a set of fairly resent cap & collars issued from Canada The very rare Vancouver BC cap badge. Canadian Legion War Service Overseas. 210th Battalion, Western Canada. 210th Western Canada shoulder title Just an updater on my earlier post from '12 about the files I am building up of past members, it is currently up to over 15000 names worldwide and over half are New Zealanders, with details of the persons birth and death and military [or not] military service with copies of service files being acquired as well many photos of members and their headstones, and as time goes more information can be acquired. I am also trying to purchase medal groups for members from NZ that includes as a minimum their Legion Long Service medal Image of the 25th (Frontiersman) Battalion of the Royal Fusliers from WW1

In the New Year Honours list from three days ago (31 Dec 2014) there was this listing for the award of the NZ Distinguished service Decoration (NZDSD) The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration The Queen has been pleased, on the celebration of the New Year, to make the following awards of The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration: New Zealand Defence Force Serviceman B. For services to the New Zealand Defence Force. (Name withheld for security reasons)

In recent times there have been several Gallantry awards to SAS members in NZ, and they are always refered to as "solder A, Captain B, Corporal C, &c, &c just as is doen in other realms

I agree, it all depends on how deep our pockets are, mine are very shallow these days.......