Lacking of medal's ribbons

[The woodpecker]

Hello mates!I hope that you are all well.So I have a small question.I had seen some ww2 dated british SD tunics and Royal Navy jackets that they are lacking any medal's ribbons.I am amuse that those were the ''second'' tunics and jackets for the officers.Those that the officers wore systematically must had the ribbons bars.Am I right? Many Thanks for your time and help!

[Jerry B]

Perhaps they stopped wearing them before the medals were authorised for wear which for most WWII medals was post war.

[Michael Ryan]

Hi Woodpecker, I would suggest that the reason your WWII uniform items are devoid of ribbons is because the vast majority of the troops involved in the War had been demobilised before the medals were issued. Ergo, there would be no requirement to add ribbons as the uniforms were no longer in wear other than by those who were regulars and remained in the Forces post 1945. The paragraph below is from the official MOD site and should help to qualify what I have said.

"As a general rule, most Second World War Service personnel were not issued with medals before they were de-mobilised at the end of the war and consequently they had to claim them after they had left the Services. This differed from the arrangements at the end of the First World War when the majority of medals were sent out automatically. This was not considered to be practical after the Second World War, as most people had returned to civilian life before the medals were instituted in 1948 . At the time they were encouraged to visit their local Post Office, pick up a buff card and enter onto it their number rank and name, and send it to the Minister for War to request their medals. "

I hope that this helps top answer your question.

[The woodpecker]

Great reference mate!That solved many problems!