Toll-free Medals Inquiry Phone line:
1800 111 321 (Operating Hours: 8:30am-5:00pm, Monday to Friday)
Include as many details as possible regarding the soldier on
whose behalf you wish to claim the medallion.
Full name, rank and unit, and service number
are generally required
If the medallion has not previously been issued, and if you
qualify for issuance, you may proceed with the application and should receive
the medallion.
I'm very grateful to Mr Charles La Nauze, of South Australia,
for informing me that he applied for and received, in Feb 2000,
the medallion for his grandfather, Captain C.A. La Nauze, of the 11th Battalion.
Below is his message to me, reproduced here in order to give an idea to anyone
applying of the process involved and the time it can take:
The medallion was sent by registered post and
comes in a presentation case
with a moulded velvet base to receive the medallion, with a silk lined
hinged lid. In my opinion a very suitable presentation.
I received a post card acknowledgement of the application within a
few weeks which warned that there would be delays due to heavy work load.
I rang the medals section after about six months and was told the application
was received but not yet processed. I rang again several times and
eventually was told the medallion had been approved. A couple of months
later (January 2000) I received a formal letter advising that the medallion
was available to family members in an order of precedence. A form was
enclosed to claim the medallion in which I was required to state that I
believed I was the person entitled to the medallion and that I would
surrender the medallion if a preferential claimant came forward. This form
only required a signature witness.
The medallion arrived a few weeks after this form was sent. Acknowledgement
of receipt was requested (SAE enclosed).
Captain La Nauze was killed in action at
Silt Spur, on the southern Anzac flank, Gallipoli, on 28th June 1915.
My thanks to Mr La Nauze for supplying me with the photo of his grandfather
used in Captain La Nauze's record page.
DIGITAL COPIES OF SOLDIERS' DOSSIERS (Australia)
If you would like more information on the soldier, digitised individual's
service dossiers are available from
National
Archives. You will need to log in and then conduct a Search.
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For New Zealand Soldiers' Medallions
For claiming the Anzac Commemorative Medallion
for a New Zealand soldier,
write to:
Staff Officer Medals,
New Zealand Defence Force,
Private Bag 905,
Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
Janet O'Melia, of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, very
kindly supplied me with details on how her father claimed the medallion of
his uncle, Private John Moreland of the Auckland Battalion,who was killed
in action on Chunuk Bair, Anzac, on 8th August 1915. The medallion was received
free of charge within a few weeks of her father proving his relationship to
his uncle.
My thanks for updates on the procedure to my colleague John Meyers, and to
Willie Walker, former RSM in the Artillery Corps, New Zealand Army, who saw
service in Vietnam and who processes medal and medallion requests.
OBTAINING A COPY OF THE SOLDIER'S DOSSIER (New
Zealand)
For a copy of a soldier's WW1 service dossier,
contact the Personnel Archives of the New Zealand Defence Force (Te Ope Kaatua
O Aotearoa). The cost for this service varies depending upon how much material
must be photocopied, up to a maximum of $28.00 NZ.
All Requests Must Be In Writing (letter or fax:
[04] 527 5275) to:
Personnel Archives / Enquiries
& Medals
Trentham Camp, NZDF
Private Bag 905
UPPER HUTT
NEW ZEALAND |
Include the following information in your request:
Enquirer's details:
Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms:
Name:
Address:
Phone number:
Soldier's Details:
Supply as many of the following details as possible
Surname:
Full Given Names:
Any other names known by:
Date and place of birth:
Living or deceased:
Service Number:
Rank:
Unit:
Period of service:
Next-of-kin at time of enlistment:
Address at time of enlistment:
Occupation at time of enlistment:
REMEMBER - This is to receive a copy of the soldier's service file - NOT
the Medallion.
(More general information
concerning the Anzac medallion below)
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A little background reading...
Statement by the Prime Minister [of Australia],
the Rt. Hon. Harold Holt,
in the House of Representatives
16th March, 1967
Last March, the Minister for Defence announced
that it had been decided by the Australian Government, in consultation with
the New Zealand Government, to issue a medallion
and lapel badge
to the veterans of the Gallipoli Campaign.
I am glad to be able to announce that arrangements have now been completed for
the production of the medallion and badge. The Minister for the Army will be
arranging distribution to those wishing to receive them as soon as possible.
The Government hopes that production of the medallion and lapel badge will be
sufficiently advanced to permit at least some of them to be distributed by Anzac
Day.
The medallion
(with the name of the recipient inscribed) will be issued to surviving members
of the Australian Defence Force who served on the Gallipoli Peninsula, or in
direct support of the operations from close off-shore, at any time during the
period from the first Anzac Day in April, 1915, to the date of final evacuation
in January 1916. Next of kin or other entitled persons will be entitled to receive
the medallion on behalf of their relatives, if their relative died on active
service or has since died.
For surviving
members, a
lapel badge
will also be available for wearing. This
will be a replica of the obverse (or front) of the medallion and will be about
1" high and 2/3" wide, the same size as the R.S.L. badge.
The medallion is the work of Mr. Raymond Ewers, the well-known Australian artist,
based on a suggestion by Mr. Eric Garret, a staff artist with the Department
of Army. It has been endorsed by both the Government of New Zealand and ourselves.
It will be approximately 3" high and 2" wide. The obverse of the medallion
depicts Simpson and his donkey carrying a wounded soldier to safety. It will
be bordered on the lower half by a laurel wreath above the word ANZAC. The reverse
(the back) shows a map in relief of Australia and New Zealand superimposed by
the Southern Cross. The lower half will be bordered by New Zealand fern leaves.
The medallion will be cast in bronze and the lapel badge will be a metal of
bronze colour.
Please note that, while you may be able to claim
the medallion, you will NOT be eligible for issuance of the lapel badge
unless you are the soldier himself.
Note: The Anzac Commemorative medallion is also sometimes referred to as the
Gallipoli medallion.
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