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WW1 posthumous medals

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by roofy (U14113476) on Wednesday, 5th May 2010

  Hi,
  can anyone tell me if there are certain medals that are *only* awarded posthumously. Ive found details of a commendation for someone but dont actually know if he died or not.
  The medal is the Military Cross.
  Thanks
  Roofy

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Wednesday, 5th May 2010

  The Military Cross was definitely not posthumous-only - Siegfried Sassoon was awarded it and lived to tell the tale (he later threw it in the River Mersey).

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Thursday, 6th May 2010

  Roofy
  
  There are no British medals that can only be won posthumously.
  
  Historically, the number of medals that could be awarded for an action in which the recipient was killed was restricted to two - the Victoria Cross and the George Cross. The only other award that could be made in those circumstances was a Mention-in-Dispatches.
  
  Confusion has arisen where a soldier was awarded a gallantry medal, for instance the MC for an action but was killed before the award was actually received. Frequently, this will be referred to as a posthumous award, but that is technically incorrect.
  
  The system changed at the time of the Falklands War, when it was decided that all gallantry awards could be awarded posthumously. A limited number of such awards were made (I can think of one MC and a Distinguished Flying Cross).
  
  I do not know if that change remained after the recent reorganisation of gallantry awards.
  
  If your chap received the MC any earlier than 1982, then it was not a posthumous award.
  
  LW

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by roofy (U14113476) on Thursday, 3rd June 2010

  Just to say thankyou to you both for your responses, it was most helpful and most appreciated,
  Ruth

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