Southern Africa Ww2 Vol. Service

[Mervyn Mitton]

These are an interesting pair of medals - and not often seen outside of Southern Africa.

Left : S.A. Medal For War Service. Introduced in 1946 for service 1939-46, it is made of sterling silver. Both men and women were eligible and to qualify you had to have served for a minimum of two years in a Voluntary organisation - in S.A. or, overseas. Service had to be voluntary and unpaid. The medal is bi-lingual - English and Afrikaans. With the many servicemen passing through S.A. there were quite a number given out - I have been told about 30,000. Value - around £50 ($80)

Right : Southern Rhodesian War Service Medal. Introduced in 1946 for service 1939-45. Made of cupro-nickel (coin metal). This was given to those who served in the Southern Rhodesian Forces during the War - but were ineligible for one of the Stars or, War Medals.

This is a rare medal and not often seen. Value - over £300 ($480) - possibly more.

On a side note - very few Countries could afford Silver for War Medals - Sth. Africa and Canada , they were both producers of the metal. But UK, Aust. NZ,India, were all cupro-nickel. Would be interesting to look into this and see which other places used silver. (I'm not talking of Gallantry or, special medals)

[Mervyn Mitton]