Veterans Replacing Campaign Medals

Campaign Medals are regarded as treasured possessions, and reflect the Service to the country and are awarded by The Sovereign on behalf of a grateful nation. The market value of these medals is often only superficial, but those awards for gallantry can be quite valuable, the recipient is expected to treat them with care and be mindful of their security.

Once a medal has been issued they become the sole responsibility of the original recipient, or his/her next of kin. They will not, therefore, be replaced by the Ministry of Defence if they are lost. The only exception to this rule is if the medals are stolen or accidentally destroyed beyond the control of the owner, for example in a house fire.

In these cases the Ministry of Defence may replace the medal if proof of the loss is provided in the form of a Police Report or a claim to an insurance company. A charge is made for medals that are replaced to cover the cost of manufacture and for administration. It should be noted that in many cases the replacement medals will be stamped as such to avoid confusion if the originals are ever found.

For those who have lost their medals and they have not been stolen or accidentally destroyed the Ministry of Defence will not replace them. In these cases it is recommended you approach a reputable medal dealer for replacements, in most cases you will be surprised at how reasonably priced campaign medals are.

To claim for replacement medals 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.

To make a claim for replacement medals:
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/replace

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