ww1 Medals And awards

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The only medal that could be awarded on its own was the British War Medal. So, if any of the other medals is found on its own, it must be a ‘split group’ i.e. other medals are missing. The British War Medal weighs an ounce; if it alone is missing from a group of medals, it might indicate that it was once pawned or sold for its scrap silver value, and melted down.

Medals should always be worn (or mounted, if displayed) in an ‘order of precedence’. You can find the ‘order of precedence’ list in the Medals Yearbook (details below) . The medal with precedence is on the left of the group when seen by someone meeting the wearer (or looking at a display).

Because the medals were worn or displayed together, some of the markings can tell us something about any missing medals. The British War Medal is silver, quite a soft medal; it often shows ‘contact marks’ if it has rubbed alongside other medals. Marks to the right of King George V’s head indicate that a Victory Medal was probably also awarded and marks to the left that probably either a 1914 or 1914–15 star was awarded.

Nicknames
The issue of First World War Service Medals in the 1920’s coincided with a comic strip in the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The popular cartoons featured Pip the dog, Squeak the penguin and Wilfred the rabbit.

Soon the three main campaign medals (the 1914 or 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal) were nicknamed 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred'.

When only the British War and Victory Medals were worn together they became 'Mutt and Jeff' after another pair of cartoon characters.