British War Medal 1939-45 awarded to Colonel J A Stafford Fearfield, Royal Signals attached to Force 136, Special Operations Executive
Circular, cupro-nickel campaign medal with, on the obverse. crowned head of King George VI, with the inscription, 'Georgivs VI D: G: BR: Omn: Rex et Indiae Imp:'; on the reverse, a lion standing on the body of a double-headed beast with the heads of a dragon and eagle, representing Germany and Japan, with the dates '1939' and '1945'. The reverse also bears the initials, 'ECRP', for the designer, Edward Carter Preston. The ribbon has a central narrow red stripe, flanked by narrow white stripes, broad red stripes at either edge with two intervening blue stripes.
The British War Medal 1939-45 was awarded to all full time service personnel of the Commonwealth Armed Forces wherever their service during World War Two (1939-1945) was rendered, provided they had completed 28 days service between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945.
Fearfield served with Force 136 of the Special Operations Executive, during 1942-1945. Force 136 operated in Asia against the Japanese. Commanded by British officers, it recruited indigenous people in Burma, Malaya, China and Thailand to assist in sabotage and intelligence gathering.
From medal group awarded to Colonel J A Stafford Fearfield, Royal Signals, including, Order of the British Empire, 1939-45 Star, Burma Star 1941-45, Defence Medal 1939-45, General Service Medal 1918-62 and United Nations Korea Medal 1950-1954.
NAM Accession Number
NAM. 1999-09-67-5
Copyright/Ownership
National Army Museum Copyright
Location
National Army Museum, Study Collection
Object URL
https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1999-09-67-5
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