Defence Medal 1939-45 awarded to Sergeant Fred Darking, Royal Engineers

Circular campaign medal with, on the obverse (designed by Thomas Humphrey Paget), the head of King George VI and the inscription, 'GEORGIVS VI D:G:BR:OMN:REX F:D:IND:IMP.'. On the reverse (designed by Harold Parker), the Royal Crown on an oak sapling, with lion and lioness supporters flanked by the dates, '1939' and '1945', above stylised waves and the medal name, 'The Defence Medal', within the exergue. The green ribbon has a central band of orange and two thin black stripes.

Fred Darking (1911-1999) was born in 1911 and worked as a commercial artist in Nottingham before the Second World War. In 1940 he enlisted in the Army and served in the camouflage department of the Royal Engineers. Athough he was not an official War Artist, the sketches and watercolours that he produced in his spare time provide an important eye-witness record of the Channel crossing, the D-Day landings and subsequent campaign through France, Belgium and Holland to the crossing of the Rhine in 1945.

Struck in cupro-nickel or silver, the Defence Medal 1939-45 was instituted in May 1945 and was more widely distributed than the 1939-45 Star. Its recipients included personnel who had served for at least three years in Britain during World War Two (1939-1945). The medal was awarded to non-operational service personnel and for certain civilian services, such as Civil Defence. Commonwealth and Colonial personnel in some services, deployed away from their homes, were also eligible. The ribbon colours are symbolic: the green refers to the green and pleasant land of England, the black stripes represent the blackout and the orange stripe represents the fire bombing of the Blitz.

From a medal group awarded to Sergeant Fred Darking, Royal Engineers, comprising: 1939-45 Star, Africa Star 1940-43, Defence Medal 1939-45 and France and Germany Star 1944-45.