Australia Service Medal 1939–1945

Australia Service Medal 1939–1945
Reverse of medal and ribbon (top) Obverse (left) and reverse (right) of medal Ribbon (bottom)
Awarded by Australia
Type	Campaign medal
Awarded for	service in World War II
Clasps	None
Statistics
Established	November 1949
Total awarded	43,723++
Related	Australian Service Medal 1945–1975, Australian Active Service Medal 1945–1975

The Australia Service Medal 1939–1945 recognises service by Australia's armed forces, Mercantile Marine and Volunteer Defence Corps during World War II.

Initially, the qualifying period was those members who served overseas for at least 18 months full-time service or three years' part-time service between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. On 16 August 1996, the qualifying period was reduced to 30 days for full-time service and 90 days for part-time service.

Description

The Australia Service Medal 1939–1945 is a circular nickel-silver medal. The obverse bears the crowned effigy of King George VI.
The reverse of the medal shows the Commonwealth Coat of Arms surrounded by the words 'THE AUSTRALIA SERVICE MEDAL 1939–1945'.
The medal ribbon has a wide khaki central stripe, flanked by two narrow red stripes, and edge stripes, one of dark blue the other of light blue. The khaki represents the Australian nature of the award, and the red, dark blue and light blue represent the Army, Navy and Air Force respectively.

References

ADF Honours and Awards site
It's an Honour – Australian Government site

Australian Campaign Medals

Mahdist War	Egypt Medal (1882–89)

Second Boer War	Queen's South Africa Medal (1899–1902) • King's South Africa Medal (1902)

Boxer Rebellion	China War Medal (1900)

World War One	1914–15 Star • British War Medal • Victory Medal Mercantile Marine War Medal •

General Service	Naval General Service Medal (1915–62) • General Service Medal (1918–62)

World War Two	1939–1945 Star • Atlantic Star • Arctic Star • Air Crew Europe Star • Africa Star • Pacific Star • Burma Star • Italy Star • France and Germany Star • Defence Medal • War Medal • Australia Service Medal (1939–45)

1945–1975	Australian Active Service Medal (1945–75) • Korea Medal (1950–53) • United Nations Korea Medal (1950–53) • Australian General Service Medal Korea (1953–56) • General Service Medal (1962–1975) • Vietnam Medal (1964–73) • Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal (1968–73) • Australian Service Medal (1945–75)

1975–2012	Australian Active Service Medal (1975–2012) • International Force East Timor Medal (1999–2000) • Afghanistan Medal (2001–14) • Iraq Medal (2003–13) • Australian Service Medal (1975–2012) • Rhodesia Medal (1979–80)

2012–	Australian Operational Service Medal – Border Protection (2012–) • Australian Operational Service Medal – Civilian (2012–) • Australian Operational Service Medal – GMEO (2014–)

Australia Service Medal 1939–1945

Description

See also

References