Gallantry at sea

Making things up THE news that the Medal Index Cards (MICs) for the British Army in World War II are now available from different online sources (see “News & Views”) will, I am sure, start to increase interest in World War II medal groups, which have often been viewed differently to other medals simply because they were, with the exception of certain gallantry, all issued unnamed. Of course, because World War II medals are unnamed the release of these MICs won’t actually cause quite the stir that the release of the World War I ones did, especially as no other Second World War records other than medal entitlement are, as yet, available. With the World War I MICs the collector was helped immensely when he discovered his humble pair in fact belonged to one of the “Old Contemptibles” and that there was a 1914 Star out there somewhere, or the recipient was entitled to a MiD oakleaf that had in fact become dislodged at some time. With this new tranche of records finding out someone’s medal entitlement will be useful, especially if a single DCM or MM is all you have, but as you will be able to piece the group together easily enough by visiting a show or going online, you won’t get quite the same feeling as you would finally discovering that Star after years of searching. In fact, the release of these record actually throws up something of a dilemma for collectors; now we can know the entitlement of any British soldier isn’t it perfectly possible that we will start to see “representative groups” being sold alongside diaries, photographs, service papers et al? Where once only the ephemera would have been offered for sale, World War II medal groups may start appearing more and more, made up by the seller now that the information is available. Similarly with gallantry medals, where once only a Military Medal might have been offered, we are now likely to find freshly made-up groups coming up for sale. The question is does that matter? As World War II campaign medals were unnamed the chances of finding the exact ones that Military Medal winner was awarded are next to none, so does it matter if, some 70–80 years after the medals were first awarded, a dealer or collector obtains original examples and puts together the group based on the MICs now online? Do you, as a collector, care that the medals you might own weren’t the actual ones (with the exception of the gallantry award) that the recipient was once sent by the Ministry of Defence? Do we worry about the actual bits of metal or is it the story of the man that matters? Personally I’m not sure I would care overmuch. I’d perhaps like to see the seller be honest and state that they had made up the group having started only with the MM, but as long as the entitlement is correct (remember only the information on World War II stars and medals is online, it’s perfectly possible that the recipient could have later received a GSM, a Meritorious Service Medal, a long runner or a Territorial award, that info isn’t out there yet and I’d be annoyed if I purchased a group that I was assured was full entitlement only to discover there was post-World War II medals that the seller had missed) and the medals used to make up the group are originals, then the fact that they weren’t the actual medals given to the soldier in the first place isn’t going to bother me too much. After all, if the medals have got separated over time then being able to prove the unnamed ones are the actual medals that should be with the decoration would be almost impossible, even if they did come from the family (families too can make up groups, many did) and the ones I buy at a fair may even be the originals, prove to me they aren’t! I suspect I may be in the minority though, suspect that many of you would be happier keeping that gallantry decoration on its own than adding medals to it just for the sake of showing entitlement. I may be wrong of course, and it will be interesting to see how many World War II gallantry singles are offered in the future. It will also be interesting to see whether they are still “singles” when they next come up for sale!