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

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 Armed Forced 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.

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.

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.