Help Finding Medals

[ssmcanada]

Hello Everyone!

I am new to this forum and this is my very first post, so I apologize in advance in regards to this post if it is in the wrong section or if it is done improperly (moderators please let me know)

I am posting from Vancouver, Canada.

I joined this wonderful forum in the hopes of receiving help replacing medals of my Great Grandfather and his younger brother. 

My Great Grandfather was with the British India Army and later India Army and served for a combined 28 years retiring with the rank of Subedar.  In his later years of life him and his wife were given the wonderful opportunity of immigrating to Canada to spend his later years of life with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. On his last visit back to India around 1982 he took his medals/ribbons with him and left them in the family village, since then they have become misplaced and I have taken up the task of trying to replace them.  He was awarded the following as per his military discharge book which I have.

Medal List

1)    War Medal

2)    1939-1945 Star Medal

3)    Burma Star

4)    Indian Independence Medal

5)    Raksha Medal

6)    General Service Medal

7)    Indian Service Medal

8)    Sainya Seva Medal : 2 Clasps

-       Jammu and Kashmir

-       Himalaya

 He also had a younger brother who unfortunately didn't make it home during WW2 he was declared missing in action or taken as a POW in Singapore.  To our families knowledge the medals he was entitled to were never awarded to the family after his death,  it is my understanding he should have received:

1)    War Medal

2)    1939-1945 Star Medal

3)    Pacific Star

 

Would it be possible for someone to help me find out how to best go about trying to source and purchase these medals?

Thank You

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peter monahan]

SSM, welcome to the GMIC!  I hope someone here can help, though this is a very specialized field indeed.  I know a tiny bit about it - if you'd like to click on my icon and private message me, feel free.

Your late great-great uncle's medals should have been sent to the family after his death was confirmed,  by the Indian Mint, but it is not uncommon to hear of such things being returned as undeliverable - if the family had moved, for example - or simply lost in the vast number of medals being sent out, as I'm sure you know how large the IA's contribution was in WWII.

There is a web site somewhat irreverently named 'S A Gongs', run by an American prof who is one of the [English speaking] experts on post WWII Indian and Pakistani medals.  You can join that site by applying and they may be able to steer you to sources for the post-1947 medals.  They are not uncommon and can usually be obtained fairly cheaply.  The WWII British/Indian issue medals are getting up there in price but as most were issued unnamed - unlike the Indian ones! - you can pick up singles to make up the group again.  Sadly, as the IA did name its WWII medals, the lost ones cannot be replaced with identical versions.  But, again, not too hard to get most of the gongs on your list.  Some Indian sources sell what are called 'tailor's copies' of the commoner post-47 medals, unnanmed of course, for those looking to make up extra sets or replace lost ones. 

I hope this iis some small help.  Please do contact me if you think it useful.

Peter Monahan

[ssmcanada]

Hi Peter

I just attempted to send you a private message, but the website won't allow me to do so, I received an error message.

I wanted to thank you for replying to my post and providing me with some very useful information!

I would like to touch on the fact regarding why I believe the medals were not issued to my great great uncles family.  The family at that time was living village near the city of Sarghoda which at that belonged to India but after partition in 1947 it became part of Pakistan.  As a result the family was forced to move back to its ancestral village in the Punjab part of India.  I think because of the move this is reason why the medals never made it to the family.

I will attempt to join the other website you mentioned in your post.  I have also been told I could try contacting the Ministry of Defence in England and request the medals, https://www.gov.uk/apply-medal-or-veterans-badge do you know if that is a true?

If possible could you contact me directly if you know of any sources where I could get replacement medals replicas/real to replace the ones that belonged to my Great Grandfather?

Also an open question to everyone on the forum, based on the above post of my great grandfathers medal list in his military discharge book, does anyone think he may have had more medals based on his years of service?  They may have been overlooked when his discharge book was written up. the section where medals are listed in the discharge book was full and maybe they didn't have enough room to write in all of his medals.  I ask because I have seen mentions of 9 year and 20 year services medals in the Indian Army, I don't see them listed in his discharge book.  Based on the fact that he served for 28 years with what was written in his discharge book "exemplary" service I wold think he would have received these?

Thank You

[Gordon Craig]

ssmcanada,

Most medals issued by India were named to the recipient so it would be difficult to replace the missing ones.  You could search for unnamed ones and have them named to your great grandfather.  The most likely place to find replacement Indian medals is on ebay.com.  Here s a link that you may find useful.  https://www.ebay.com/bhp/india-medal 

As for the medals issued by Great Britain, you could apply to have them reissued but I can not direct you to the correct place to do that.  Good luck in your hunt for these medals.

Regards,

Gordon