Voluntary Medical Service Medal

Voluntary Medical Service Medal
Awarded by the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India
Country	United Kingdom
Type	Service medal
Eligibility	Volunteers of the British Red Cross or St Andrew's Ambulance Corps
Awarded for	15 years of service
Clasps	for each subsequent 5 years of service
Statistics
Established	1932
Precedence
Next (higher)	Service Medal of the Order of St John
Next (lower)	Women's Royal Voluntary Service Medal
Ribbon bar of the medal

The Voluntary Medical Service Medal is a medal awarded by the British Red Cross and the Scottish St Andrew's Ambulance Corps. It was instituted in 1932 at the direction of George V.^[1][2]

Criteria

To qualify for the medal, a member must accrue fifteen years' continuous efficient service as a first aid volunteer in either the Red Cross or St Andrew's providing a minimum of ten hours field service per year. Service for the medal was retroactive to the creation of Voluntary Aid Detachments in 1909.^[3]

Appearance

The obverse of the medal bears a symbolic representation of Florence Nightingale carrying a lamp. The reverse features a design of both Geneva and St Andrew's crosses to denote the two qualifying organisations. Between the upper arms of the St Andrew's Cross is the text LONG AND EFFICIENT SERVICE. The medal is suspended from a straight swivel bar and hangs from a ribbon of red with yellow stripes at the edges and a thin white stripe in the centre.^[4]

On the suspension ribbon of the medal, clasps are worn to denote five additional years of qualifying service. In undress, on the ribbon of the medal, one silver emblem, denoting a St Andrew's or Geneva cross is added to the medal ribbon for five additional years of service. At twenty years of additional service the silver emblems are replaced by a silver-gilt emblem. Up to four silver-gilt emblems can replace the silver type to denote 25, 30, and 35 years of service in the applicable voluntary organisation.^[3]

References

1. "Voluntary Medical Service Medal with British Red Cross service bar, attributed". Medal-medaille.com. 6 February 2006. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
2. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 56878. p. 3353. 17 March 2003.
3. "Medals and badges". Museum and archives>Historical collections >Medals and badges. British Red Cross. Retrieved 9 November 2013. External link in |work= (help)
4. "Voluntary Medical Service Medal". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 9 November 2013.

External links

• Front of the Voluntary Medical Services Medal, British Red Cross.