War Office: British Army Medal Index Cards, Second World War

WO 460

1948-1999

This series consists of medal index cards (Form C.S.20) denoting the medal entitlement of officers, non-commissioned officers and other ranks who served in selected regiments of the British Army during the Second World War.

C.S.20 medal cards take the form of a double-sided card, addressed on the front to The Under Secretary of State of War. On the rear is printed a list of the eight campaign stars and two medals representing different theatres of operation, with those medals not awarded, scored out. Cards were completed by hand and signed by the applicant. Once approved, an official 'medals issued' date stamp was applied.

The Campaign Stars and Medals listed on each card are:

Stars

• 1939-45
• Atlantic
• Air Crew Europe
• Africa
• Pacific
• Burma
• Italy
• France and Germany

Medals

• Defence
• War

The medal index cards also contain details such as name, service number, age, rank, regiment of corps, date of discharge, and postal address.

Medals were not automatically issued and had to be applied for, either by individuals themselves or by their next of kin. As such, the collection consists only of those who applied for and received their medals, and not all those who were entitled to them.

It is believed that the medal index cards do not survive for members of the following regiments:

• Royal Engineers
• Royal Army Veterinary Corps
• Royal Army Medical Corps
• Royal Army Ordnance Corps
• Auxiliary Territorial Service
• Scots Guards
• Leicestershire Regiment
• Royal Warwickshire Regiment
• Lincolnshire Regiment
• West Yorkshire Regiment
• East Yorkshire Regiment
• Green Howards
• Duke of Wellington's Regiment
• Sherwood Foresters
• York and Lancashire Regiment
• Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
• Royal Ulster Rifles
• Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
• Royal Irish Fusiliers
• King's Own Regiment
• Lancashire Fusiliers
• East Lancashire Regiment
• Border Regiment
• South Lancashire Regiment
• Loyal Regiment
• Manchester Regiment
• Welch Regiment
• Cheshire Regiment
• Worcester Regiment
• South Staffordshire Regiment
• North Staffordshire Regiment
• South Wales Borderers
• Royal Welch Fusiliers
• Liverpool Regiment

PLEASE NOTE: Digital images of open portions of these records can be searched online through our partner website.

The open material in this series was made available online through our partner website in November 2024. Some information on individual images on the partner website is redacted, as per the guidance in the catalogue Restrictions on Use field. When these records were accessioned, each box contained a mixture of closed and open items. The catalogue entry for each box gives the closure status as 'closed'.

The cards are arranged in alphabetical order by surname. Surnames beginning with Mac or Mc may have been filed under either Mc or Mac, regardless of the spelling shown on the card.

Public Record(s)

English

558 box(es)

Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018, information about living individuals has been redacted from digital images of these records. In some instances, this includes applicants who were surviving next of kin in the 1980s and 1990s. In the absence of information to the contrary, it is assumed that there is a life expectancy of 100 years.

Closed unless otherwise stated

From 2023 Ministry of Defence

Topics

Army

Asia

Medals

Europe and Russia

Conflict

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns

Some C.S.20 medal cards are believed to have been destroyed before the remainder were transferred to the Army Medal Office. The complete set of those held by the Medal Office were selected for transfer to The National Archives.

There are no Second World War medal card rolls and service medals were not awarded automatically as in the First World War. Instead, they were applied for using Form C.S.20 medal cards, either by qualifying individuals or their relatives, often posthumously, and sometimes many years after the end of the war.

Qualifying criteria were set down in 1948 when an advertising campaign was instigated, telling people to fill out the C.S.20 card, which was available in most Post Offices. The postcards were sent to the Army Medal Office/War Office by service personnel who had left the army prior to the latter part of 1948, or, if deceased, by the service persons next of kin.

When an assessment of the relevant service records had been completed, the medal entitlement was noted on the C.S.20 card and the service records and, when the medals were dispatched, the date of issue was stamped on the C.S.20 medal card. These are predominantly between 1945 and 1950, although there are many instances of later date stamps into the 1980s and 1990s.