WW II Medals

I was at my mom's today and asked her about dad's World War Two medals. She took out a dusty pvc pouch and in it were three medals (actual pic above), The Pacific Star, The 1939-1945 Star and The War Medal 1939-1945. Apparently my dad had a few more medals (one of them the Defence Medal) but he refused to collect them. No reasons were given.

The Pacific Star was a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth, awarded for service in World War II. No time qualification was necessary for the Army and eligibility was entry into the territories that had been invaded by the enemy or the allies. Service in China and Malaya between 8th December 1941 and 15th February1942 also counted.Dad never talked about the war with mom. He was born in 1917 so would have been 24 years old during the Japanese invasion of Malaya in 1941.

The 1939-1945 Star was a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth, awarded for service in World War II. The medal was awarded for operational service between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. Time spent as a POW counted, personnel whose service was cut short due to death, wounds or sickness would qualify, those who won an award /decoration MID etc were automatically entitled to the star.

Official info available at Ministry of Defence website