[BITList] Ushakov Medals

[John Feltham]

G'day Hugh,

On 11/07/2013, at 06:44 AM, HUGH <chakdara at btinternet.com> wrote:

> I've directed this question a number of times to a number of people, and never once got an answer.  What law is it that a citizen of the UK would break by "accepting" a medal from another country?  Sounds like bullshit to me.

It is an established rule that "All Honours and decorations" are at the discretion of the Crown. 

To administer this rule there is an Honours and Decorations Committee.

Quote:  

The HD Committee

The HD Committee evolved from a pre-war organisation, the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals in Time of War. The Committee is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service. The other senior officials are:
Private Secretary to The Sovereign
Appointments Secretary to the Prime Minister
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence
Defence Services Secretary
Permanent Secretary Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Permanent Secretary, Home Office
Secretary of the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood
Ceremonial Officer of the Cabinet Office (Secretary)

There is no direct Ministerial involvement with the Committee as it reports directly to The Sovereign. However, PPS/Prime Minister is responsible for reporting to the Prime Minister matters discussed by the Committee. Similarly, PS/The Sovereign represents the Royal Household and in this way The Sovereign can be advised of progress throughout all stages of the Committee's deliberations over medal proposals. The Sovereign maintains a keen interest in the work of the Committee.

Qualifying Periods

Qualifying periods for each award or medal are determined by consideration of the rigours of the campaign. This is not standardised. In some circumstances, the qualifying period agreed has been as short as one day's service, whereas other medals or clasps require 90 days' continuous service. At least one campaign medal (the General Service Medal 1918-1962 with clasp Cyprus) required 120 days service to qualify. The case for each medal is considered on its own merits.

End of quote.

They, the Govt, hide behind the bit in red. They say that it is HM The Queen who is "the Fount of all Honours" in the UK. In practise, HM never sees any of the recommendations until they have been made bu the HD Comm.

While fighting for the right to wear a medal, given to us by Malaysia, we had copious correspondence with several of the members of the committee. ALL of them passed the parcel.

At one time we created a Petition signed by many people of note in the UK including Vera Lynn, handed in to the Queens Secretary, who we now placed it on HM desk. It was never read by HM. Instead it was sent by HM's PPS to the MoD or Foreign Office. Within a year both were declaring that they had never seen it. 

Before a medal is offered by a foreign Govt they must first, through diplomatic channels, ask if the UK will accept a medal on behalf of the recipients. If that request is not given then that country will not make the offer public.

That was the situation in our case. The UK Govt, in the name of Baroness Valerie Amos, said that they would not accept the PJM Medal offered by the Malaysian Govt, to all Commonwealth Forces who had been involved in the undeclared war with Indonesia in the early 1960s.

This started our war with the UK Govt. It lasted 6 years.

The decision came under immediate fire when it became known that although the UK had refused acceptance of the PJM the Govt of Australia and New Zealand had! 

The UK Govt came under fire when the Governor-General of Australia was presented by the Chief of the Malaysian Defence Force with his PJM. He had been a Major in the Australian SAS and served Borneo during the operations against Konfrontasi. He was presented it on the 30 January 2006 - note that date!

See..

http://www.defence.gov.au/medals/Content/+121 Foreign Awards/+090 PJM/ 

That very day [30 January 2006] the UK Govt announced (they had to!) that the UK would accept the PJM medal but that those awarded the medal would NOT BE ALLOWED to wear it.  Be aware that No restrictions were placed on the Aussie or Kiwis - they have their own HD Committees. 

"THE PINGAT JASA MALAYSIA, AND WHY ELIGIBLE BRITISH RECIPIENTS MAY EXCEPTIONALLY RECEIVE, BUT NOT WEAR, THE MEDAL."

See also the crap that they put out to defend their position…

http://www.veterans-uk.info/medals/pingat_update.html

We won in the end.

ooroo



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