GENERAL WAR MEDAL

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24913, 28 June 1946, Page 5

GENERAL WAR MEDAL

AWARD FOR 28 DAYS’

SERVICE

MOBILISED HOME GUARDSMEN QUALIFY (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, June 27. kt \ u'Y H°me Guardsmen, mainly in North Auckland, and members of the women s branches of the services will be eligible for the General War Medal, the institution of which was announc!dli r ti en a tly S y ?5 e King ' The “edal wiil be awarded for 28 days’ full-time hP°r^nf e tl s ?J vice - Very few members of the Home Guard will be eligibie because, generally speaking, the Home Guard was not mobilised. Time spent in such camps as that at Pleasant Point, and in attending courses of instruction, though paid for, was not mobilised service, and will not count towards qualification fon the medal.

In a statement to-day on conditions governmg the award of the War Medal the Pacific Star, and the Defence Medal, the Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) said: “The War Medal will be granted to full time personnel of the United Kingdom and Dominion Armed Forces wherever their service during the war has been rendered, and it will be granted in addition to the campaign stars, and the Defence Medal, if earned. The qualification wil] be 28 days full-time service. and both operational and non-ope-rational service will qualify. Service qualifying for the award of this medal will count from September 3, 1939, and the terminating date in all theatres, whether in Europe, the Pacific, or elsewhere. will be September 2, 1945. As far as the personnel of the New Zealand forces are concerned all members of the Royal New Zealand Navy, including the W.R.N.S., the Army, which embraces the Regular Force, the Territorial Force, the TemH?S r ?r Staff A the J W A ’ A ' C - and mobilised Home Guardsmen, and the Royal wa i?r< alan £ Air Force ’ including the W.A A.F.. who served for not less than 28 days on full-time duty, will be ell «£j le for the Wa r Medal. The rules for the Pacific Star have now been changed, making it unnecessary for Army and Air Force personnel first to earn the 1939-45 Star, and the new time qualification for the Pacific Star for service on land or in the air has been reduced to one day on the strength of a unit in an operational area In the case of Naval personnel, shore-based in an operational area, the qualifying rules for the Army are applicable. For service afloat the concession of one day’s service for the Pacific Star applies to the Navy and Merchant Navy personnel only after the 193945 Star has been earned. However, in me last six months of the war in the Pacific, March 2, 1945, to September 2, 1945. service afloat in the Pacific area wHI qualify for the Pacific Star without the prior earning of the 1939-45