Canadian 8th Army Medal Set

[Avitas]

Hi guys,

This is probably a common set, but I love it anyways. The Canadian 8th Army set is my favourite of all the sets because of the action they went through in every theatre of ww2. Many hours of fascinating reads! Here are my Africa Star, 39-45 Star, Italy Star, France Germany Star, Defense Medal, Canadian Voluntary Service Medal and the British 39-45 Medal. If anybody else has any of these to show and maybe have some obscure or interesting info that would be great.

Thanks again,

Pat

[Avitas]

and the reverses, in fairly good shape.

[Avitas]

Here are the medals...with plenty of tarnish

[Avitas]

the backs of the medals...

[Avitas]

Finally, the mini medals and stars mounted on a medal bar (unfortunately without the small Africa Star).

[Michael Johnson]

It's hard to be sure, but I'd say that the Africa Star was added to the full-size group, and that the minis are the proper entitlement.

The First Canadian Division and the Fifth Canadian Armoured Division would have qualified for this combination. The only Canadian soldiers who qualified for the Africa Star were a handful of officers and I believe a few NCOs who were attached to British units (Strome Galloway comes to mind).

[Avitas]

Good info Michael, I didn't realize there were only two Canadian regiments in British 8th. It does appear that the Africa Star was an add-on and that would explain the ribbon bar. I will post the back of the ribbon bar (with the replacement CVSM mini I have draped over the original bar that is missing the medal, but has the ribbon, shame) with the maker mark Spinks from I believe Toronto. Any info on the maker is welcome.

Thanks,

Pat

[Michael Johnson]

Good info Michael, I didn't realize there were only two Canadian regiments in British 8th.

Divisions, actually. Lots of famous Canadian regiments:

Royal Canadian Regiment

R 22e Regt

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light infantry

Hastings and Prince Edward Regt. (Read Farley Mowat's "And No Birds Sang")

etc., etc.

with the maker mark Spinks from I believe Toronto. Any info on the maker is welcome.

Thanks,

Pat

London, England. Spinks are probably the most famous British medallists.

[Avitas]

Thanks Michael,

I picked up this Canadian ribbon bar and was wondering about th significance of the oak leaf on the war medal ribbon and the poppy on the red ribbon. Apparently this gentleman was a higher up in the Canadian Army and this is only one row of his ribbons. All info is welcome,

Pat

[Michael Johnson]

Thanks Michael,

I picked up this Canadian ribbon bar and was wondering about th significance of the oak leaf on the war medal ribbon and the poppy on the red ribbon. Apparently this gentleman was a higher up in the Canadian Army and this is only one row of his ribbons. All info is welcome,

Pat

The oak leaf represents a Mention in Despatches, so counts as a gallantry award. The rosette on the Canada Decoration represents a total of 22 years' service (12 for the medal and 10 for each bar [represented by a rosette on the ribbon bar]).

If you have a name, you should be able to track down a Gazette entry.

Edited May 8, 2006 by Michael Johnson

[Avitas]

This might be the last one to move to the Canadian section. Thank you for your patience!

Pat

[Mervyn Mitton]

Hi - Pat. I will ask Brian if he will move-it - he's the expert with shifting them. A nice group and with the Canadian Medal it is rather like the South African Bar which has the Africa Medal at the end. With your placings on the bar - you have probably moved them by now - however, correct order for the Stars is - 39/45; Africa;Italy and France andd Germany. The Canadian award should follow the War Medal - unless there is a Canadian order that says otherwise.

[Avitas]

First off, thanks to Brian for moving my old Canadian topics to their wonderful new home in this Forum.

Now about the bar, I don't know much about the regulations for the orders. This is how I found the medal bar, so that is very interesting that it is not in the right order. I did find a small Africa to create a Frankenstein set, definitely not a researchable set but a nice display nonetheless.

Thanks again,

Pat