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INTRODUCTIONTHE custom of awarding medals for military service is supposed to have originated with the Chinese many centuries before the Christian era, but the decorations which our fighting men are given to-day probably owe their origin to the badges which the armies of England wore after the decline of armour, and before the introduction of distinctive uniforms. The badges themselves, it hardly need be said, grew out of the coats of arms which emblazoned the liveries of the retainers.There are a number of instances on record of commanders rewarding men upon the battlefield by giving them regimental badges struck in some valuable metal, and perhaps studded with precious stones. Heroes, who were decorated in this way, removed the common or ordinary metal sign from their coats or hats and wore, instead, the much-prized emblem. In this simple performance we have the germ of medal-granting and wearing as it affects the Navy and Army of to-day.To Queen Elizabeth belongs the honour of striking the first English war medal, but, as we tell in the chapter which follows, her awards were given with a sparing hand. Charles I. struck the first military medal, Elizabeth having reserved her decorations for the Navy; whilst the earliest campaign award, that is to say, the first occasion on which a whole army received these precious tokens, was granted by the Commonwealth to commemorate the battle of Dunbar. Other pioneer medals were (a) The award given for La Hogue by William and Mary ; this is supposed to be the first naval campaign decoration; (b) The Culloden Medal, which was the earliest to be provided with a ribbon of special pattern; (c) The gold Peninsular Medals, which bore the first bars; (d) The Waterloo Medal, the forerunner of what are sometimes called the " five shilling piece medals," and (e) The Indian Mutiny Medal, the first military medal which was given to a civilian for military assistance.It must not be thought that when once the idea of decorating our fighting men had occurred to those in authority the grants were forthwith made on all warrantable occasions, for such is far from being the case. The first campaign medal, as we say above, was the Dunbar award, but the next occasion when our army was similarly recognised was for Waterloo. During this intervening period of close on two centuries, the men in the ranks of the English regiments received no awards unless they performed acts of exceptional bravery. For their services in the battle of the Nile and for the Peninsular campaign, our men were given no official rewards at all until, many years later, Queen Victoria generously decided to strike a medaland grant it to all of whom information could be found.Even in later years, when the institution of campaign decorations had been firmly established, it was a common practice to send out the tokens to their recipients two or three years late. Thus it happens that many of the coveted pieces remain unclaimed in the hands of the authorities, sometimes through forgetfulness, but more often due to the decease of the man who played his part so nobly. It may be of interest to mention here that, at the present moment, there are hundreds of unclaimed medals lying at the War Office and the Admiralty awaiting claimants. If any reader of these lines happens to know of a case where a soldier or sailor served through a campaign, but did not receive his medal, he will be doing a good service by acquainting either the man or his next of kin, or by sending particulars to the Adjutant-General to the Forces, or the Lords of the Admiralty, as the case may require.During the three centuries that medals have been granted in the United Kingdom, a wide range of metals has been used for their composition, but silver, gold, and bronze are by far the most usual. Various shapes also have been employed by the designers of these cherished tokens. In the early days the oval was usually employed, but since the time of the Honourable
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- Title: The Medals of our Fighting Men
- Author : Stanley Currie Johnson
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- Genre: Books,Crafts, Hobbies & Home,Antiques & Collectibles
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