Bletchley Park and It's Outstations medal

[Shots Dave]

I recently acquired this medal and felt the need to share with anyone who is interested. I am afraid I don't have the certificate that the Prime Minister issued to the recipient. Dave 

[Hugh]

I very much hope we'll hear more about the medal, award criteria, etc.  

Thanks,

Hugh

[Shots Dave]

Hugh

From GCHQ website:

Bletchley Park commemorative badge

 

 

On behalf of Her Majesty's Government, GCHQ is delighted to recognise the vital service of those who worked at Bletchley Park and its outstations during World War II, by presenting surviving veterans with a commemorative badge.

 

Who is eligible?

Surviving veterans on 1 July 2009 who:

• Were employed by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park or its outstations
• Served in the Armed Forces at Bletchley Park or its outstations
• Served in the "Y" Services of the Armed Forces collecting material which was sent to Bletchley Park
• Served in SLUs or SCUs
• Served in the Radio Security Service
• Worked for the GPO in the COLOSSUS team at Dollis Hill

[Shots Dave]

Further to above:

"Those who served at Bletchley, but are sadly no longer alive, are currently listed in a register held and maintained by the Bletchley Park Trust. Although we cannot issue commemorative badges in respect of those who have died, GCHQ will support the Trust by preparing a properly bound copy of this register to be held at Bletchley Park, and by maintaining an online copy of it."

I know some of you will be saying this is not a medal as the title clearly states it is a badge. So I apologise for wrongly naming it as so, but as you were required to provide wartime service and received it with accompanying literature from David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, it seems a little more than a "badge".

[peter monahan]

Dave

The tradition of 'badges' which afre more than just identifiers is not new in the British services: the War Service badge for WWI was given for wear after one left the service and the Indian Army issued an 'Overseas Service' badge in both WWI and WWII.  All of those were in addition to or separate from any 'medals' a serving soldier/person may have qualified for.  

It's nice to see that the government can see the value in acknowledging such service and is prepared to spend the relatively trifling sums needed to do so.  Here in Canada, the men who served in the merchant navy were only officially recognized as war veterans, eligible for government support, in 1992, despite having a casualty rate higher than any of the figthing services [1 in 7].  The cynics point out that most of them were dead by '92, so it didn't cost the gov't much!

[Shots Dave]

I think I am right in saying the civilian workers at Bletchley did not receive any award at all prior to this and were not allowed to speak of their activities for a very long length of time. Thus many passed away with nobody aware of their considerable services to the war effort and were even looked upon in a bad light for no mentionable contribution to the war effort. Also being eligible in 2009 for services which ended in 1945 l do not think many of these actually survived to receive their badge,although I would be glad to be mistaken . 

[Hugh]

Thanks so much for the additional information, Dave.  In today's world of satellite and intercept capability, It;s hard to remember the magnitude of the contribution these people made with the most primitive tools.  .  

[peter monahan]

What Hugh said!  Thanks, Dave.

[Shots Dave]

My pleasure. 

[libste]

I'd love to know roughly how much these medals are worth. I need to value one that will be in an exhibition that I'm helping to put together. Thanks.

[Shots Dave]

The last one I saw for sale on ebay went for £255.01 

 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274938641908