The Civil Defence Medal.
Creation.
The Civil Defence Medal (CDM) is a long service award by the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II signed the Royal Warrant (see above) for its creation on 19th January 1961 and it was issued from March that year.
It was originally awarded for 15 years continuous service in the Civil Defence Corps, the Industrial Civil Defence Service, the Auxiliary Fire Service, the National Hospital Service Reserve or the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO).
The medal.
The medal is silver and oval in shape. It is 38mm high and 32mm wide. The obverse has the crowned head of Queen Elizabeth II and the legend ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID. DEF (see below left), whilst the original (1961-63) reverse has three shields carrying the initials of one of the three main services, CD, AFS & NHSR, and an oak branch in the background (see below centre). A separate Northern Ireland version had the initials AFRS (Auxiliary Fire and Rescue Service) and HSR (Hospital Service Reserve) on the last two shields. Just to note, the Civil Defence Corps was never actually established in Northern Ireland, but there were other CD services in World War Two.
The medal does not bear the name of the recipient.
In 1963, it was extended to include Civil Defence workers in Gibraltar, Hong Kong and Malta. To mark this change, the design on the reverse of the medal was changed to a more generic one with the words: “Civil Defence” and “Long Service”, with laurel wreaths and palms (see below). I have been told that existing stocks of the first pattern of the medal were still issued to recipients from the UK organisations after 1963, until they ran out.
The medal ribbon is 32mm wide and dark blue with three narrow stripes of yellow, red and green, with the yellow being on the left. A bar clasp saying “Long Service” was issued for each extra period of 12 years of service. (see below)
Qualification.
To qualify for the medal, personnel had to have served in any of the organisations listed for 15 years. Prior service in a large number of similar organisations, from just before and during World War Two, also counted towards time served for the purposes of the medal.
Service time counted for the issue of this medal could not be counted towards any other relevant long service medal. For example, Any years of service in the Auxiliary Fire Service that were counted in the award of a Civil Defence Medal could not then be counted if applying for a Fire Brigade long service medal. Also any years counted for a Civil Defence Medal could not be used if applying for the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) long service medal.
Its (slightly) more recent history.
Gradually over the past 59 years, most of the eligible organisations have ceased to exist.
After 1968, when the Civil Defence Corps, the Auxiliary Fire Service and the National Hospital Service Reserve were disbanded, members of the UKWMO still qualified until it was also disbanded in 1992. On the Channel Islands, the medal continued to be issued to their UKWMO staff until June 2007 when they too were closed down. Also, the medal was awarded to Civil Defence personnel in Hong Kong until it was transferred to China in 1997.
Currently, the medal is only awarded to civil defence volunteers on the Isle of Man.
Should any official Civil Defence organisations be re-established in Britain, its members would become eligible for the medal.
Sources:
Images from Wikipedia (they were better than my photos) under the Creative Commons Licence.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Defence_Medal
Civil Defence - The Fourth Arm Vol.13, No. 5. May 1961
Thanks for this article, great detail.
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