Africa Service Medal

I have an Africa Service Medal issued to a relative of mine.
On the edge is inscribed his number and name as expected.
Before the number are the letters A C F.
Assuming that is his rank, can anyone help andcsuggest what the rank might be.
Id also like to be able to track down his unit and find out where he may have served.

I also have WW1 medals for the same person from the British Army and he would have been
in his 50's by WW2

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Malk

 

Malk,

All I can come up with is the Active Citizen Force as a unit rather than a rank. Here is a link, hope it will be of use:

http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol135mn.html

 

Welcome Newchap - What is the bar on the medal and I presume it is Er11 issue...

 

My fault, I thought he meant the Africa General Service medal..... evidently it must be the South African Service Medal for WW2.



This being the case then the ACF would be the Active Citizen Force (ACF) which was in effect the trained reserve of the South African Army. This was a very small size force at the outbreak of war numbering only about fifteen thousand men. (Not to be confused with the Union Defense Force of course).
What initially gave the South Africans problems is that these men had been trained almost exclusively in "Bush" warfare as they did not expect to leave the south of Africa. At the end of September 1939 they took volunteers which significantly increased the manpower available....albeit whites only.

 

Thanks for the replies all,

I will look more at the Active Citizen Force.Couldnt find any mention of it in WW2.but it would make sense given my uncles age and the fact he moved to S.A. between the wars. Does anyone know of any sites with access to SA military records.

Cooler King and Owen- for future ref, what does Er11 or EllR refer to?

Thanks again,
Malk

 

Excellent,
Thank you very much Owen.