First World War Medal Entitlements

Have you seen a relatives first World War Service records and wondered what the three purple ‘medal stamps’ were?

Normally found on the last page of a document, these stamps are actually generic, and were used on all Australian First World War records to substantiate them, not necessarily signify medal entitlements.

For a person to be entitled to a medal, the middle section of the purple stamp will have issue numbers confirming entitlement, as shown below in the photo. This example means the individual was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.

To be entitled to the 1914-1915 Star the individual would to have been in a declared war zone in 1914 or 1915, when they enlisted is not relevant. The above example shows this person was entitled to all three medals.

The photo below shows the three purple medal stamps but you can see the letters, “N / E” on the 1914-1915 Star stamp (the first stamp) this means “Not Entitled” which means they weren’t in a declared war zone in 1914 or 1915. Sometimes you will also see the Allied Victory (the last stamp) and the 1914-1915 Star, with the letters, “N/E” This typically means the person was not in a declared war zone during their service and therefore only entitled to the British War Medal.

If you have any questions about your family members medal entitlements or how to have them recreated give our team a call on 07 3871 0600, and view our Replica War Medals.