The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
Hi Guys,
Following on from the D Day fraud line you might enjoy a real email I received from a mail order customer. I had mentioned we can supply mounted replica medal sets and he responded that he had 18 medals. I then indicated that to have 18 (in Australia not USA !) you would have had to serve in WW2 and do Vietnam and 30 years to get close to 18 medals.
His then reply was :
"In answering your query below I would appreciate your confidentiality, although the UK Ministry of Defence would deny all knowledge were the information below come into the public domain. I was in the regular army from 1977 until the end of 1982. From then until April 1991 I was in the reserve.
Under Queens Regulations retiring officers serve in the TAVR for five years after leaving the regulars, however, for officers such as myself who have had experience in counter-terrorist activities, the five years can be extended for a much longer period.
Most of my awards have been covered by the 30-year rule, i.e. the award is not issued for 30 years from the date of the award, and were only released last year. Some, however, have been classified under the 50-year rule and will not be formally gazetted until 2030. However, as I am now living in Aus the Ministry of Defence in the UK have agreed to release copies of all my awards although I am still waiting for some to be sent, in total these are:
1977
Military Cross – Northern Ireland – Counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 30 year rule
Northern Ireland Service Medal – Counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 30 year rule
Silver Jubilee Medal
1978
VC – Counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 50 year rule
1979
UNFICYP, United Nations Force in Cyprus on secondment from 1RTR live fire exercise
1980
Legion d’honneur – commandeur – Counter-terrorism activities in France covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977 Worn at the throat
Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr (German Honour Cross) in silver – Crusader ’80 (largest exercise in Europe since WWII)
Northern Ireland bar to Campaign Service Medal
1982
DSO – Falklands War covered by application of UK 30 year rule application
South Atlantic Medal – Service in Falklands War covered by application of UK 30 year rule application
South Atlantic Bar to Campaign Service Medal
1984
2nd bar to VC in Lebanon for counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 50 year rule
UNIFIL, United Nations Interim Force Lebanon
Lebanon bar to Campaign Service Medal
UNDOF, United Nations Disengagement Observation Force – Golan Heights
1987
Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr (Honour Cross) in gold Counter-terrorism activities in West Germany covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977 – Worn at the throat
Grosses Bundesverdienstkreuz (Great Federal Merit Cross) Counter-terrorism activities in West Germany covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977
NATO Meritorious Service Counter-terrorism activities in West Germany covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977
1991
Gulf medal
Kuwait bar to Campaign Service Medal
United Nations Iraq/Kuwait Observer Mission
US Merit Legionnaire Medal
Kuwaiti Liberation Medal
Saudi Liberation of Kuwait Medal
Post 1991
Camaign Service Medal received in 1992
These decorations were awarded retrospectively
BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) service medal (commemorative) received 2007
British Forces Germany (commemorative) received 2007
Cold War Medal received 2007
US Global War on Terror medal received 2008 as recognition for past services to NATO countries in the “early war on terror”
Total of:
8 British decorations issued by Her Majesty’s Government
2 British commemorative medals
1 NATO medal
4 UN mission medals
9 Non British medals – 2 worn at the throat.
Total awards 22 awards, as now live in Aus, the British regulations on the wearing of “foreign” orders does not apply. However, I am unclear as to the order of wear, in the UK it is clear that gallantry awards are worn in sequence on the bar followed by service/campaign medals. Within Queen’s Regulations, the wearing of NATO and UN honours is usually permitted; but not “foreign” honours.
If you were to log on to some of the British Army blog sites there is a great deal of bad feeling among those active and ex-servicemen on the current rules, the general feeling is that the wearing of awards given for active service irrespective of the country of origin should be permitted. In many cases the holders of the awards would not necessarily wear them all, but reserve them for “special” occasions. Personally, I would like all my awards mounted, but I only plan to wear those awarded for active service whilst on service with the British army, NATO or the UN ".
Message ends.
So to sum up he is Double VC, DSO and MC + high German and French awards.
He wanted me to make his replica set !!!
The question is how would you reply ?
I will copy my response later on but any servicemen or ex-servicemen will no doubt appreciate (or not) the absurdity of this claimed set.
Regards
Brett
Following on from the D Day fraud line you might enjoy a real email I received from a mail order customer. I had mentioned we can supply mounted replica medal sets and he responded that he had 18 medals. I then indicated that to have 18 (in Australia not USA !) you would have had to serve in WW2 and do Vietnam and 30 years to get close to 18 medals.
His then reply was :
"In answering your query below I would appreciate your confidentiality, although the UK Ministry of Defence would deny all knowledge were the information below come into the public domain. I was in the regular army from 1977 until the end of 1982. From then until April 1991 I was in the reserve.
Under Queens Regulations retiring officers serve in the TAVR for five years after leaving the regulars, however, for officers such as myself who have had experience in counter-terrorist activities, the five years can be extended for a much longer period.
Most of my awards have been covered by the 30-year rule, i.e. the award is not issued for 30 years from the date of the award, and were only released last year. Some, however, have been classified under the 50-year rule and will not be formally gazetted until 2030. However, as I am now living in Aus the Ministry of Defence in the UK have agreed to release copies of all my awards although I am still waiting for some to be sent, in total these are:
1977
Military Cross – Northern Ireland – Counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 30 year rule
Northern Ireland Service Medal – Counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 30 year rule
Silver Jubilee Medal
1978
VC – Counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 50 year rule
1979
UNFICYP, United Nations Force in Cyprus on secondment from 1RTR live fire exercise
1980
Legion d’honneur – commandeur – Counter-terrorism activities in France covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977 Worn at the throat
Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr (German Honour Cross) in silver – Crusader ’80 (largest exercise in Europe since WWII)
Northern Ireland bar to Campaign Service Medal
1982
DSO – Falklands War covered by application of UK 30 year rule application
South Atlantic Medal – Service in Falklands War covered by application of UK 30 year rule application
South Atlantic Bar to Campaign Service Medal
1984
2nd bar to VC in Lebanon for counter-terrorism activities covered by the UK 50 year rule
UNIFIL, United Nations Interim Force Lebanon
Lebanon bar to Campaign Service Medal
UNDOF, United Nations Disengagement Observation Force – Golan Heights
1987
Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr (Honour Cross) in gold Counter-terrorism activities in West Germany covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977 – Worn at the throat
Grosses Bundesverdienstkreuz (Great Federal Merit Cross) Counter-terrorism activities in West Germany covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977
NATO Meritorious Service Counter-terrorism activities in West Germany covered by application of UK 30 year rule in 1977
1991
Gulf medal
Kuwait bar to Campaign Service Medal
United Nations Iraq/Kuwait Observer Mission
US Merit Legionnaire Medal
Kuwaiti Liberation Medal
Saudi Liberation of Kuwait Medal
Post 1991
Camaign Service Medal received in 1992
These decorations were awarded retrospectively
BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) service medal (commemorative) received 2007
British Forces Germany (commemorative) received 2007
Cold War Medal received 2007
US Global War on Terror medal received 2008 as recognition for past services to NATO countries in the “early war on terror”
Total of:
8 British decorations issued by Her Majesty’s Government
2 British commemorative medals
1 NATO medal
4 UN mission medals
9 Non British medals – 2 worn at the throat.
Total awards 22 awards, as now live in Aus, the British regulations on the wearing of “foreign” orders does not apply. However, I am unclear as to the order of wear, in the UK it is clear that gallantry awards are worn in sequence on the bar followed by service/campaign medals. Within Queen’s Regulations, the wearing of NATO and UN honours is usually permitted; but not “foreign” honours.
If you were to log on to some of the British Army blog sites there is a great deal of bad feeling among those active and ex-servicemen on the current rules, the general feeling is that the wearing of awards given for active service irrespective of the country of origin should be permitted. In many cases the holders of the awards would not necessarily wear them all, but reserve them for “special” occasions. Personally, I would like all my awards mounted, but I only plan to wear those awarded for active service whilst on service with the British army, NATO or the UN ".
Message ends.
So to sum up he is Double VC, DSO and MC + high German and French awards.
He wanted me to make his replica set !!!
The question is how would you reply ?
I will copy my response later on but any servicemen or ex-servicemen will no doubt appreciate (or not) the absurdity of this claimed set.
Regards
Brett
, I,d have claimed the hat trick of VC,s.
