Defence Medal

[Langton]

Were the Defence Medals for Home Guard unmarked? i.e no name, rank etc.

[sapper]

There were no marks on them.
Sapper

[Langton]

Thanks.

One further question if I may ... any idea when they were issued? i.e X number of years after the war or after service?

Thanks.

[mattgibbs]

Some were issued immediately after the war, remember the Home Guard stood down in 1944. Some were issued in 2005. For those who did not claim or did not recieve one are only just claiming their entitlement now. I believe it was for 3 years home service? But I cannot recall exactly. Therefore some Home Guards who joined up after the end of 1941 would not qualify on the length of service.
Regards
Matt Gibbs

[Dieppe]

Originally Posted by sapper

There were no marks on them.
Sapper

Just to elaborate; none of the Defence Medals, not just Home Guard issued ones, were named; any with naming on has been engraved privately.
I think that engraving of medals could be done at Boots.

[Paul Reed]

What Matt says is correct, the qualification for the Defence Medal was 3 years, so unless the serviceman had done 3 years in the Home Guard prior to their disbandment, then he would not get one. Also, all medals had to be claimed and were not issued. No WW2 medals issued to British personnel were named, as Lee has mentioned above. Boots (and indeed others) offered a naming service in the 1950s.

[Bodston]

I have my Grandad's Defence medal which he was awarded for wartime home service with the National Fire Service (NFS). He was a rural blacksmith and part-time fireman in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. Being in his mid forties I presume he was too old to have been called up into the armed forces. He and his collegues did attend the fires caused by the bombing of Coventry some 40 miles away.
Who else was eligible for this medal?

[Ron Goldstein]

Criteria
(According to the MOD website)

The Defence Medal was awarded for non-operational service. This type of service in the UK included those service personnel working in headquarters, on training bases and airfields and members of the Home Guard. Home Guard service counts between the dates of 14 May 1940 and 31 December 1944. The Defence Medal was also awarded for non-operational service overseas, for example in India or South Africa.

The table below shows the qualifying time required depending on the area served.
Area
Time required
UK 1080 days
Overseas non-operational 360 days
Overseas non-operational in an area deemed to be closely threatened or subject to air attack
180 days

A personal note:
To confirm my own entitlement for the Defence Medal I looked at one of the numerous forms that I received when I asked for my Army Records. One was headed "Identification of Goldstein R. on Joining"
and a sub-section dealt with Campaign Medals & Decorations.
There are 5 Medals listed; The Africa Star, The 39/45 & Italy Star, The Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939/45.
The authority for the Defence Medal is shown as 2950/46 CMF B2068
so I suppose this is as official a record as I am ever likely to get.
Like most men of my age, I had registered for War Service in 1939 and prior to joining the Forces had been a Fire Watcher in London and an Air Raid Warden in Houghton Regis. I had reported this on enlistment but cannot find any record of my civilian service recorded on my Army Records.

[Dieppe]

Originally Posted by Bodston

Who else was eligible for this medal?

A lot of organisations! From the 'Medal Yearbook 2006':

'The definitive list of eligible recipients was published by the Ministry of Defence in 1992 - Form DM1/DM2 and Annex. This lists 50 different organisations and 90 sub-divisions of eligible personnel.'

[sapper]

There was no mention of my Home Guard service anywhere, When I joined the army I was told to report at Newcastle in my HG uniform..I did just that, and still had it when my war finished at Overloon and Venraij.
Sapper