Veterans Claiming for WWII Medals

Most WWII Service personnel were not issued with medals before they were de-mobilised at the end of the war and consequently they had to claim them after they had left the Services.  As most people had returned to 'civvy street' by the time that the medals were instituted and manufacturing commenced in the late 1940's, the task of locating individuals would have been an enormous and hugely expensive. It was decided at the time that only those who remained in the Armed Forces would receive their medals automatically and everyone else had to claim theirs.


Although the availability of medals for wartime service was widely advertised at the time, many did not claim them. Even now, several hundred Veterans, or their next of kin make an initial claim for WWII medals every month. They are still issued, in the first instance, free of charge.


Medals can be issued to the legal next of kin of deceased ex-Servicemen or ex-Servicewomen, however proof of kinship is required.


To claim medals which never before have been issued or to find out if an individual is entitled to a medal, please write to the medal office at the address below. Giving as much of the following information, as possible:

Full Name (at time of Service).
Service Number.
Regiment/Corps (Army/RM) or Branch/Trade (RAF and RN).
Rank.
Date of Birth.
Date of Enlistment.
Date of Discharge.
Plus your Current Name and Address.

At the moment, the medal offices are unable to accept claims or queries by e-mail. There is usually a backlog of requests, they will be dealt with as quickly as possible and strictly in the order the claims are received. Every effort will be made to acknowledge and process claims in a timely manner, but please appreciate that if you are claiming a medal for service performed many years ago it will be necessary to recover files from the archives, which will take a little time, so please be patient.


Claims for medals for service in the Home Guard are also dealt with by the Ministry of Defence Medal Office.

To make a claim or for more details:

Contact:





Telephone:
Facsimile:
Email:

Ministry of Defence Medal Office
Service Personnel and Veterans Agency
Building 250
RAF Innsworth
Gloucester
GL3 1HW
0800 085 3600
0141 224 3586
JPAC@afpaa.mod.uk

Information for this page was obtained from the Veterans Agency webpage www.veterans-uk.info/medals/claiming



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