Africa Star 1940-43 awarded to Major G S Hobbs, 3rd Battalion, Gold Coast Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force

Copper-zinc alloy campaign medal in the form of a six-pointed star, on the obverse, the royal cypher, 'GRVI', for King George VI (1895-1952), within circlet bearing the medal name, 'The Africa Star', surmounted by a crown. The medal is suspended by a ring from a pale buff ribbon with central red stripe flanked by light and dark blue stripes.

Hobbs joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, on a Regular Army Emergency Commission as second lieutenant in April 1940. In August 1941 he was made a war substantive lieutenant, before being seconded as a temporary captain to the Royal West African Frontier Force, 3rd Battalion, Gold Coast Regiment in 1942.

During World War Two (1939-1945) the 3rd Battalion saw service in the East African campaign with 24th Gold Coast Brigade (2nd West African Brigade), where they attacked Italian Somaliland from Kenya, and further advanced into Abyssinia (Ethiopia). In 1944, the regiment was attached to the 82nd (West African) Division, and moved to Burma where they took part in the third Arakan Campaign. Hobbs was made a temporary Major in 1944, and retired from the Army in 1946.

Instituted in 1943, the Africa Star was awarded to British and Commonwealth personnel who served in the operational area of North Africa between the 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943 during World War Two (1939-1945). The pale buff colour of the ribbon represents the desert sand; the dark blue, the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy; the pale blue, the Royal Air Force, and the red, the Army.

From a medal group awarded to Major G S Hobbs of the 3rd Battalion, Gold Coast Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, comprising 1939-45 Star, Africa Star 1940-43, Burma Star 1941-45, Defence Medal 1939-45 and British War Medal 1939-45.