War Medal Search

[Terpsícore Deckelman]

Theserecords are index cards created by the Army Medal Office towards the end of the First World War. They record the medals that men and women who served in the First World War were entitled to claim.

Most of the cards contain information about campaign medals, which were generally awarded to all those who served overseas. However, some of the cards record entitlement to gallantry and long service awards.

It is Ministry of Defence policy to not issue medal replacements for service before 1920, irrespective of entitlement. You may be able to obtain duplicate medals from a coin or medal dealer. Alternatively, replica medals can be purchased from The National Archives bookshop.

You can search for an individual medal index card using the form below. You do not need to fill out every field to search these records; using only the last name and regiment number often works. Your search results will be displayed in Discovery, our catalogue. From search results you can select an individual record (by clicking on the title) and download it ().

Your download will actually contain the images of six medal cards (with the exception of the Indian Army medal cards, which download individually), usually for six different individuals with similar or even identical names. Given this, if you are looking for the medal cards of two different people with the same surname it may only be necessary to download one image. In your search results, look for the Reference code. If the reference is the same for two separate individuals, you will only need to download one image for both cards.

The original medal issue and medal receipt may also be noted. However, most of the cards record medal entitlement rather than the awarding of medals. If you want to check whether a person received a medal, you can consult the medal rolls (WO 329) which should be annotated with pencil ticks. These campaign medal rolls are available online via Ancestry .

Occasionally, the medal card will confirm that the individual did not receive any medals, including many soldiers who went to France after 11 November 1918. They thought they were entitled and applied, but had their application refused.

The 1914 Star was instituted in 1917 for service ashore in France and Flanders between 5 August and 22 November 1914. In 1919 a clasp bearing the above dates was authorised and given to personnel who had actually been under fire between the prescribed dates.

The British War Medal 1914-1920, authorised in 1919, was awarded to eligible service personnel and civilians. Qualifications for the award varied slightly according to service. The basic requirement for army personnel and civilians was that they either entered a theatre of war, or rendered approved service overseas between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918. Service in Russia in 1919 and 1920 also qualified for the award.

The Territorial Force War Medal 1914-1919 was awarded to members of the Territorial Force only. To qualify, the recipient had to have been a member of the Territorial Force on or prior to 30 September 1914, and to have served in an operational theatre outside of the United Kingdom between 5 August 1914 and 11 November 1918.

The TFEM was renamed the Territorial Efficiency Medal in 1921 when the TF became the Territorial Army. The name and design of the award was changed again in 1930, becoming the Efficiency Medal (Territorial), sometimes noted as EM(T).

The medal index cards are displayed in sets of six (with the exception of the Indian Army medal cards, which download individually), usually for six different individuals with similar or even identical names.

This type of card was used for individuals who received the Silver War Badge only. The card contains information about an individual and often gives the date of enlistment, date of discharge and reason for discharge.

Medal cards often contain abbreviations and alphanumeric codes and we have listed some common ones below. The codes for those who saw their first operational service from 1 January 1916 onwards differ slightly from those who saw operational service before 1916.

If members of the Royal Flying Corps did not see service overseas until 1916 or later, you will not find a medal card here. The Air Ministry maintained these medal records and they have not been transferred to The National Archives.

We spent the better part of the last two weeks in Poland. The visit was twofold: I competed in the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Toruń. It was very important to me as a Jew who has lived with the Holocaust and the consequences for as long as I have been alive.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. It did feel nice to compete well, but my overwhelming sense everywhere we went while trying to identify and find traces of a Jewish community that was over 3 million people prior to to Nazi attempt of complete genocide was one of great loss and grief.

While there are traces of the Jewish community and valiant attempts to rebuild and re-energize, the truth is there is very little Jewish life in Poland. In Warsaw, we went to the only surviving Jewish synagogue that was not destroyed by the Nazis. It only survived because the Nazis use it as a stable for their horses.

Shabbat services were very meaningful, but the community is very small. We were led through part of the service by Cantor Yaakov Lemmer, who has one of the greatest voices I have ever had the privilege to hear.

We spent the next five days in the beautiful town of Torun, where I competed in the 60-meter dash. Once the competition was over, we returned to Warsaw to try and trace and had a guide take us through the Jewish sites that remain in Warsaw.

There is a small piece of the Ghetto wall that survived with a small memorial that is very difficult to find. From there we next went to a museum of Polish Jewish history, which leads to the path the Jews were forced to march along to take them to the cattle cars on their way to the gas chambers.

It is thought that 300,000 Jews met their end after this march.

Krakow was next. It is a gorgeous vibrant city that at one point had a thriving Jewish community. The Jewish community is growing there at this moment and a lot of work is being done through a very impressive JCC.

The following day we spent at Auschwitz Birkenau, which was the extermination facility where over 1 million jews met their end. Many of the prisoners prior to execution were tortured, beaten physically and sexually abused, experimented upon and forced to perform unthinkable acts prior to their execution.

We walked along the ruins of the camp, but some parts were still intact. Most of the barracks that housed the prisoners along with the gas chambers and crematoriums had been destroyed by the Nazis as they were fleeing the advancing Russian troops.

The selection platform where life or death was decided for millions was still intact. It was here where German officers decided who would meet immediate death and be marched right to the gas chambers and who would be made to do slave labor.

We arrived at the camps at 8 a.m. It was rainy and cold 34F or 2C. It was windy, and we were completely out in the open, but none of us dare complained. It was simple to imagine being in a similar place 80 years earlier with only thin poorly made pajamas for cover, ill fitting or no shoeware and suffering from malnutrition from the caloric restriction. Most of the prisoners received less than 200 calories per day.

For me, I believed prior to going to Poland that I would find some personal redemption by competing as a Jew and hopefully coming away with a medal. But the biggest sentiment I felt after being in Poland was the sense of such great loss, 3 million Jews lost their lives there and there can really never be any redemption.

Very, very impressive essay by our friend Dr. Allan T. Even 100 years from now (in 2123) people will be revisiting what happened at Auschwitz, Dachau, and the other scenes of mass extermination of Jewish people and other targeted men and women during the years before World War II. We can never forget.

At about 3:15 a.m. on January 26, 2021, while working secondary employment, Officer Shipp heard radio traffic about a house fire. He immediately drove to the location, arriving before the Eureka Fire Department. The front of the house was fully engulfed in flames. He found a neighbor at the back of the house, Justin M. Flynn, who told him a disabled woman was still inside. Mr. Flynn had made two attempts to locate the woman but had been thwarted by the smoke and darkness. Officer Shipp and Mr. Flynn entered the house using the rear entrance. Without breathing apparatus, the dense smoke made it impossible to see and very difficult to breathe. With Officer Shipp in the lead, the men crawled along the floor, with Officer Shipp calling out to the woman. Finally, the woman responded and Officer Shipp followed her voice to find her on the floor of a distant room. Officer Shipp then began dragging the victim along the floor; Mr. Flynn then assisted, and they were able to move her to safety outside. Officer Shipp acted without regard for his own safety in order to save the woman trapped inside her burning home. Timothy L. Shipp has been promoted to corporal.

On February 18, 2021, Sgt. Knittel and Lt. Werges were dispatched to a residence after a caller reported a man flourishing a handgun at a woman inside the residence. Upon arrival, Sgt. Knittel made contact with a woman at the front door. She told him the man was holding the handgun to his head and there were children inside. As Lt. Werges arrived, a gunshot was then heard inside the house. The two officers immediately entered the home to search for the children. Lt. Werges made verbal contact with the armed man, who was in another room, as Sgt. Knittel searched for, located, and carried the children out of the home. A second shot was now heard from the room the gunman was occupying, and the woman ran out of the room. The gunman then barricaded himself in the room. After several hours of negotiations, the gunman surrendered. Without regard for their own wellbeing, Lt. Werges and Sgt. Knittel rushed into a residence occupied by a violent gunman, rescued two children, and helped secure the safe release of a woman.

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