THE SUEZ CANAL ZONE of EGYPT 1950 - 1955
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The Suez Canal Zone General Service Medal
NGSM 1915-62 GSM 1918-62
On 11th June 2003 the Prime Minister announced in the House of
Commons that the Naval General Service Medal 1915-62 and the
General Service Medal 1918-62 with ‘Canal Zone’ clasp was to be awarded to those who had served in the Suez Canal Zone of Egypt
during the period 16th October 1951 to 19th October 1954.
General Service Medal 1918-62 with ‘Canal Zone’ clasp was to be awarded to those who had served in the Suez Canal Zone of Egypt
during the period 16th October 1951 to 19th October 1954.
The criteria for qualification is that one must have served in the Canal Zone for a minimum of thirty consecutive days between the above dates and the following personnel are eligible to apply:
Members of the Armed Forces based in the Suez Canal Zone at that time;
Accompanying civilians who wore the appropriate uniform of their organisation;
Commonwealth and Colonial forces, subject to approval by their government;
Foreign nationals enlisted with any of the above categories.
Veterans, and next of kin of veterans who have died, are invited to apply in writing to the appropriate medal office giving Full Name, Rank,
Service Number, Date of Birth, Date of Enlistment and Date of Discharge. Next of kin will be required to supply supporting documentation.
The address
for Royal Marines, Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air
Force applications is:
Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency
Ministry of Defence Medal Office
Building 250
RAF Innsworth
Gloucester
GL3 1EZ
They
will acknowledge every application on receipt. In common with other
campaign medals, all applications will be dealt with strictly in the
order
that they are received. They have already received a large number of applications and it will take a while to work through the backlog. If you intend to
apply for the medal please be prepared for a wait. A brand new section has been set up at the Army Medal Office, which is receiving by far the largest
number of applications, and they are dealing exclusively with applications for the Canal Zone medal. All the available resources are concentrating on
recovering the necessary Service files from the Departmental archives, checking individual eligibility and preparing medals for despatch. They will deal
with all cases as quickly as they can, but if the staffs of the medal offices have to stop this work to answer additional correspondence asking when a
particular case will be considered it will simply delay the issue of medals further.
It is a basic principle of the Honours and Awards system that medals are not issued unless qualification has been proved from official records.
Regrettably, there is a lack of detail in many Service records of the 1950s and some people who believe their service qualified them for a medal and
clasp will not be able to receive them because of the absence of satisfactory evidence. Don't worry. This does not mean that individuals' Records of
Service have been lost or destroyed. Very few Service files are mislaid. In most cases where they are not held in the archives, and therefore not
immediately available, it is because they are already in use elsewhere, perhaps by the Veterans Agency for use in assessment for a War Pension, or
similar. However, medals will only be issued if it can be proved from official evidence that an individual was in the right place at the right time for the
necessary minimum period. It is known that some records of service give only general statements of where people served and corroboration will need
to be sought from other records.
There is no need to send a copy of service records when applying, but for anyone who wishes to have a copy of their records, the postal addresses
of where to apply are:
Charlie
Delta.
December 2004.
Revised: September 2005.
that they are received. They have already received a large number of applications and it will take a while to work through the backlog. If you intend to
apply for the medal please be prepared for a wait. A brand new section has been set up at the Army Medal Office, which is receiving by far the largest
number of applications, and they are dealing exclusively with applications for the Canal Zone medal. All the available resources are concentrating on
recovering the necessary Service files from the Departmental archives, checking individual eligibility and preparing medals for despatch. They will deal
with all cases as quickly as they can, but if the staffs of the medal offices have to stop this work to answer additional correspondence asking when a
particular case will be considered it will simply delay the issue of medals further.
It is a basic principle of the Honours and Awards system that medals are not issued unless qualification has been proved from official records.
Regrettably, there is a lack of detail in many Service records of the 1950s and some people who believe their service qualified them for a medal and
clasp will not be able to receive them because of the absence of satisfactory evidence. Don't worry. This does not mean that individuals' Records of
Service have been lost or destroyed. Very few Service files are mislaid. In most cases where they are not held in the archives, and therefore not
immediately available, it is because they are already in use elsewhere, perhaps by the Veterans Agency for use in assessment for a War Pension, or
similar. However, medals will only be issued if it can be proved from official evidence that an individual was in the right place at the right time for the
necessary minimum period. It is known that some records of service give only general statements of where people served and corroboration will need
to be sought from other records.
There is no need to send a copy of service records when applying, but for anyone who wishes to have a copy of their records, the postal addresses
of where to apply are:
| ROYAL MARINES The Historical Records Office Royal Marines Ministry of Defence Centurion Building Grange Road Gosport Hampshire. PO13 9XA BRITISH ARMY Army Personnel Centre Historical Disclosures Mailpoint 400 Kentigern House 65 Brown Street Glasgow. G2 8EX Website Addresses: www.mod.uk/contacts/rm_records.htm www.mod.uk/contacts/army_records.htm |
ROYAL NAVY Naval Pay & Pensions (Accounts) Ministry of Defence Centurion Building Grange Road Gosport Hampshire. PO13 9XA. ROYAL AIR FORCE PMA IM1b(RAF) Room 5 Building 248A RAF Personnel Management Agency RAF Innsworth Gloucester. GL3 1EZ www.mod.uk/contacts/rn_records.htm www.mod.uk/contacts/raf_records.htm |
The information on this page has been
taken from various official websites and is accurate
to the best of my
knowledge.
December 2004.
Revised: September 2005.