WW2 Veteran Junior Officer George A Forbes, British Merchant Navy

[Brenda Shackleton]

Hello again Douglas
# 6 is the BRITISH MILITARY WAR MEDAL ; sometimes known as the VICTORY MEDAL. Awarded at the end of the War. This is the Reverse side and shows the British Lion trampling on a Dragon with the dates 1939 1945. The Obverse side shows George VI (CROWNED ) .

This is important because there was an almost identical medal awarded to Civilians ; Civil Defence / Home Guard etc. This is known as the DEFENCE MEDAL. This Medal has George VI UNCROWNED on the Obverse but with the same Lion and Dragon on the Reverse. I guess that your friend , George, has the WAR medal.
Hope that this helps.
Brenda

[Douglas Cerretti]

I have identified most of the ribbon bars on top.
Middle row; War Medal, France and German Star, Italy Star, North Africa Star
Bottom row: Atlantic Star, 1939 Star (both of these ribbons need to be reversed.

What is the single ribbon on the top row and what is the name of the Russian metal, 2nd from the right.

[Doc Vernon]

What is the single ribbon on the top row

Looks like Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon



Cheers

Forbes W G.JPG

Is this his Medal Card???

[j.sabourn]

Doesn’t the purple denote people in the medical profession Vernon ? JS

[Douglas Cerretti]

No. It’s George A Forbes, born 6 January 1925. George W was born 30 June 1912. Interesting that George A is not in the archive. Is there a place to get replacement medals? I would like to make a shadow box. Also, I contacted the British Consulate office in Seattle to see if the British government would like to honor George for his WW2 service. They only suggested a 100 year old birthday greeting from the King which is nice but I would have thought they would have done more. Is that surprising? Any suggestions.?

[Doc Vernon]

Try this site for Replacement Medals .
Cheers

RBL - Replacing Medals

I wonder if the Southampton Archives may have a File on him?? archives@southampton.gov.uk
Cheers

[Doc Vernon]

Doesn’t the purple denote people in the medical profession Vernon ? JS

Not sure JS , but you could be correct!
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

For those into medals and are Australian citizens will re-iterate what already said about the Australian
Merchant Navy Cross . Is awarded to every Merchant Seaman if wanted and requires 15 years service in Commonwealth shipping, for every 15 years
Henceforth a bar or clasp is awarded as an attachment. The accompanying document reads , The Australian Merchant
Navy Awards Council ,Has Awarded …..JWS….The Australian Merchant Navy Service Cross and Two
Clasps. To date 3 Sept. 2004.
By direction of Council
Signed Registrar.
This denotes 45 years service, as I had 50 years at sea it would have taken another 10 years at sea, I chose
To retire instead. It differs from the British merchant navy medal as is government sponsored and paid for and its
Colours for the ribbon are red ,white and blue , whereas as the British medal is red , green and white7
To denote the navigation and masthead lights of a merchant vessel.

Anyone wanting the Australian medal all that is required is photostat copies from your Dis. Book
To prove seatime. You can google the address by the title of the medal. Cheers JS….

[Douglas Cerretti]

I found this site in Amazon for replica British medals. Many are British Merchant Navy.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Goldbroth...=bl_dp_s_web_0

[Douglas Cerretti]

The Navy Unit Commendation ribbon is US Navy not British. It’s one step below the Presidential Unit Citation. George thought he sailed on a US merchant ship at one point which I assume is the reason he received it.