New to Forum, A few questions

[LaVaAPochi]

Hello to everyone.

I am new to this forum, I am from Italy, and (guess it!) I am interested in British and Commonwealth militaria.

I have a few questions about the 2 of the 3 british medals I have in my collection.

I have a post-1962 General Service Medal, with "Borneo" bar. It is named to a RAPC (Royal Army Pay Corps, if i read right) Corporal. I have any chance to get in contact with him or his relatives/heirs? Is it ethical?

The other Medal is a War Medal 1939-1945 to a Merchant Navy bloke (It has MN before the guy's name). Same question as above, I have any chance to know something more about him/his service?

I have found on Italian eBay a few auctions about UN-NAMED Defence Medals and War Medals. I thought that they were all awarded named, Am I wrong?

I hope to see more campaign medals on the forum, as I am very interested in them, especialy those of the XX/XXI (Gee, sounds like Sci-Fi) Centuries.


Thanx,


Cheers, Emiliano.

[ROBB]

Hi Emiliano .I am not a medal expert ,but all British WW2 medals were issued unnamed ,Canadian and Australian etc I think had theirs engraved , Rob

[Adam H]

Regarding the research...I think it will be difficult to find much information on "Modern" (i.e. Post WWII) recipients but perhaps other members will have suggestions in this regard. I suppose you could always try to look the fellow up using phone directories...as he is likely still alive. Ethical? This is a tough one...if he sold off his medals it may well mean that his service wasn't interesting to him and may not have a strong desire to discuss his service with the colours. I would say approach with caution and try to feel these things out on a case by case basis.

I am not familiar with researching WWII Merchant Seamen but presumably records are kept by some authority and may be available. Perhaps somebody more in touch with this area of research can assist here.

As a point of note WWII medals are generally issued unnamed to UK recipients, but one does encounter privately named pieces. Canadian WWII Defence and War Medals were issued in .800 Silver and were unnamed, except for those to the Canadian Merchant Navy. South African and Australian issues are generally found named, as are SOME Indian issues. Naming of WWII medals is a complex subject that has been touched on before. A search of the archives on this site will reveal more information in this regard....plus it might be worth initiating a new thread...

Hope that is somewhat helpful.

Cheers,

Adam

[LaVaAPochi]

Thanx to Robb and Adam.

My question about getting in touch with the people who received the medals are purely theoretical, as I have no time now to do those kind of researches, even if I hope to be able to focus on theat in a near or far future, who knows...

From ur replies I must assume that the War Medal was named by the bloke who get it...


Thanx again.


E*

[Adam H]

Hi E,

My guess is that yes the medal is likely privately named by the recipient but...I could be dead wrong as I know next to nothing about WWII UK Merchant Marine issues. Perhaps one of our British colleagues could confirm whether or not they too received unnamed medals.

I understand that after the medals were issued, "Boots" chemists/drug store offered a naming service for ex-servicemen and that the style of naming is identifiable and referred to as named in "Boots" style. I don't have an example to show but maybe somebody else does.

It's always interesting to research the recipients, although I've never managed to get in touch with an original recipient...family and comrades, yes...

Cheers,

Adam