Nepali Medal Groups

[Ed_Haynes]

Nepali medals (like those of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) are issued unnamed.

This removes most of the fun. They are, in fact, obtained from local military tailors ("cap houses") by simply taking in your old medals and swapping them for a new group with more recent medals added in (for a modest upgrade fee). Your old medals are then recycled to the next customer who needs them.

Here follow a few Nepali groups.

[Ed_Haynes]

1- High Altitude Service Medal

2- Foreign Service Medal

3- Army 10-Year Service Medal

4- Earthquake Service Medal

5- United Nations: UNIFIL

[Ed_Haynes]

1- Police 25-Year Service Medal

2- Police 10-Year Service Medal

3- SARC Service Medal

4- Earthquake Service Medal

Edited September 15, 2005 by Ed_Haynes

[Guest Rick Research]

It looks like the medals are struck... but those suspensions (shudder) appear to be lead castings???

[Ed_Haynes]

The medals range from the nicely made (note no "very" here) to the very crudely cast/struck with the suspensions even worse. The problem lies in the fact that no real medals are "awarded" except for the truly high and exotic things, and you just scamper down to your local military tailor (in Kathmandu that'd be a "cap shop") and buy a pre-mounted group of your medals (assuming it is just normal stuff). If you get something else, you take the first group back and swap it for one including your new medal, paying a rather token price for the upgrade. Some individual medals are well made, some poorly so, and if you want the shop owner to hate you, you can force him to rip apart pre-mounted bars of dig through his stock boxes to find nicely made medals, otherwise you get what you get.

As no medals in Nepal are named (same for Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka), no one cares. As is often the case in Europe, these are just open-market purchases, with all the variability in quality that that suggests.

The same shops sell ribbon bars too. (See below.)

[Ed_Haynes]

Ribbon bar 1

(1) Order of the Gurkha Right Arm ?? Class, Trishakti Patta ?? Class

(2) Jubilee of King Bhirendra 1997, ???, Coronation of King Gyanendra 2002

(3) Paradesa Seva Padak / Foreign Service Medal with khukhri device, Sainik Dirgha Seva Patta / Military Long Service Medal, Sainik Seva Padak / Military Service Medal, Prasiddha Seva Padak / ??? Service Medal

(4) SARC Service Medal, Earthquake Relief Medal 1988 with "Om" device, UN: United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) 1993-96, UN: United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) 1978? with "2" device

[Ed_Haynes]

Ribbon bar 2

(1) Trishakti Patta ?? Class, Order of the Gurkha Right Arm ?? Class, Coronation Medal of King Birendra 1972

(2) Jubilee of King Birendra 1997, ???, Coronation of King Gyanendra 2002, Paradesa Seva Padak / Foreign Service Medal with khukhri device

(3) Sainik Dirgha Seva Patta / Military Long Service Medal, Sainik Seva Padak / Military Service Medal, UN: United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) 1978? with "2" device, UN: United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), 1992-95

Edited September 16, 2005 by Ed_Haynes

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents,

the "2" device denotes two tours in Lebanon with U.N.I.F.I.L.

Kevin in Deva.