Forces War Records transcribes over 100,000 Palestine service records

Forces War Records has now transcribed over 100,000 records to those individuals who were awarded the ‘Palestine 1945-48’ clasp to the General Service Medal. 

The General Service Medal was a campaign medal awarded to men and women of both the British Army and the Royal Air Force (the Royal Navy had their own equivalent medal). This decoration was instituted in 1918 to recognise service within a range of military operations where the service merited an award, but the campaign itself was not significant enough to merit the creation of an independent medal.

The particular campaign or service which earned this award was indicated by a small bar worn on the ribbon of the medal, which would bear the name of operation moulded onto this clasp. This new transcribed collection records the award of the ‘Palestine 1945-48’ clasp (under Army Order 146 of 1947) to those who served in Palestine during the Jewish insurrection against British rule in the mandate between 1945 and 1948.

What information do the records contain?

The criteria for the award of the ‘Palestine 1945-48’ clasp was a minimum of 1 day of service in the territory between 27^thSeptember 1945 (the date a "state of emergency" was declared) and 30^thJune 1948 (when the last British troops departed).

This collection is transcribed from the medal rolls housed at the National Archives, labelled WO 100 which recorded the men who were eligible for this clasp. Occasionally a man who had already received a clasp from a previous campaign (e.g. Palestine 1936-39) or a concurrent one (e.g. South-East Asia 1945-46) is also noted.

Details within the collection include not only the unit with which the person served on the operation where they earned the medal, but also who they were with when the medal was conferred. Some records have even more detail, with the exact dates the men entered and left the award area, and the places they were stationed recorded – so you can start to build up an idea of their service history.

Records in this collection are likely to include the following:

•                Surname

•                First name or Initials

•                Service Number

•                Gallantry Awards

•                Regiment or Corps

•                Battalion, Company or other sub-Unit

•                Previousunit served with

•                Duty Location

•                Previous clasps awarded

•                Date of the award

•                The army order under which the medal was awarded.

Due to the way in which Forces War Records details are collated, some records will contain more information than that listed above.

This August Bank Holiday, Forces War Records is offering half price membership off monthly and yearly packages. – less than £25.00 for the year, or less than £5.00 for a month* (use codeAUG2018) and register here.