..



Last edited by ro5=6372 on Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:21 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'll believe it when I see it. The random way it was awarded has always been a mystery. If it happens, I hope they don't accuse us of 'medal chasing' again !

Don't forget - if it's offered, and we take it, then we have been chasing it !!


_________________
Veni vidi vinci

..



Last edited by ro5=6372 on Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

http://www.omsa.org/modules.php?name=News&file=showarticle&postid=5353 Visit this site it makes interesting reading.Apparently the reason it wasn't given to all those eligible was it would have cost too much.


_________________
Regards Aye.Jon Windust

Jon Windust wrote:

http://www.omsa.org/modules.php?name=News&file=showarticle&postid=5353 Visit this site it makes interesting reading.Apparently the reason it wasn't given to all those eligible was it would have cost too much.

Compared to only 30,000 QSJM issued in 1977 at a cost of £250,000, 370,000 QGJM were issued in 2002 at a cost of £7.8 million

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020208/text/20208w07.htm

There was a hoo ha by the 2nd. Btn. Grenadier Guards who at the time were in Londonderry and complained that as household troops they were entitled to a complete issue, they got it. One argument at the time was the cost and most said that they would be more than prepared to pay for it themselves.

John

The battle for the jubilee medal
1976 government papers
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News
The Silver Jubilee Medal was nearly done away with
The British military are renowned for not asking for much from their political masters. But they do expect medals.

Secret government papers just released to the National Archives reveal how a Whitehall row blew up during the 1976 economic crisis when the then Labour government suggested ditching a very special one-off medal in an attempt to save money.

According to the papers, the Cabinet considered consigning the traditional jubilee medal to the history books - an award historically given to honour key stages of the monarch's reign.

In 1976, the Labour government was in a deep crisis as Sterling nose-dived. The International Monetary Fund was eventually called in to bale out the government and prop up the economy.

But as that crisis loomed, one saving never made it past Cabinet after the generals, admirals and air chief marshals rallied to the defence of a piece of metal and cloth.

The call to arms came when the Cabinet heard from a sub-committee working on some of the duller aspects of the Queen's forthcoming 1977 silver jubilee.

'No longer appropriate'

In the Cabinet minutes placed in the National Archives, documents show the sub-committee recommended ditching the silver jubilee medal.


Victory for MoD: Medal's issue reported in The Times
The report notes in dry Whitehall-ese that, yes, it was of historic symbolic importance to make such an award and, naturally, it would be a useful part of the nation's celebrations. But, sadly, times had changed.

"The decision has been taken mainly on financial ground but also because there had been a feeling in the committee that a general issue of medals was in this day and age no longer appropriate," said the report to Cabinet members.

But behind the plain language the Ministry of Defence was not happy. The then Defence Secretary Roy Mason, a combative former miner, was unflinching in the face of his enemy.

"The Secretary of State for Defence felt strongly that a jubilee medal should be struck for the armed forces," the minutes dryly observe - civil service code for a Cabinet bust-up.

"This was a long-established tradition which had been honoured at every coronation and jubilee since 1887. The tradition of marking royal occasions in this way should be maintained - and there are signs of expectation developing among some services that there will again be a jubilee medal."

Spiralling costs

Cabinet members opposed to the medal wrung their hands. What could they do, they replied.

The medals would each cost £6 plus 25% VAT - a "very substantial expenditure" that could not be justified, said Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary.

What's more, the government could not issue a medal to the forces - but then ignore the police. And if you include the police, where would it - and the costs - end? The bill would be at least £250,000, Cabinet heard. Every penny that could be saved, should be saved.

Mr Mason, whose own department was being asked to cut millions in spending, was having none of it. The Cabinet minutes show Prime Minister Harold Wilson asked the sub-committee to come back with some accurate figures for further debate.

So what happened? Well, Wilson shortly after resigned and the matter passed to Jim Callaghan.

On Jubilee Day in 1977, much of Britain came together for tens of thousands of street parties, fondly remembered by many of those who were there.

The following morning, some 30,000 members of the armed forces, civilian services and other upstanding figures heard a small package plop onto their doormats. It was the Silver Jubilee Medal.

""



Last edited by StanW on Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:05 am; edited 2 times in total

Stan, you are not correct in your last post when you say "Before Military Hospital closures", it is a myth that this gonernment is responsible - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/03/nsoldier203.xml

Yes it is true, the majority of Military Hospitals were closed prior to teflon and his tykes taking power! They were the misguided result of cuts put in place by John Major's government which, as it happens, was just as incompetent as Bliars.

John

StanW and Fred

I commend you read the article below; they were first closed by the Conservatives
in the early 1990s (from 1993). However since 1997, New Labour have had every opportunity
to open those that closed and refrain from closing anymore which they didn't, and perhaps should have
done in the light of the recent 'Warrior" Prime Minister's record when serving! See what Derek Twigg has to say!
I think he misses the point which the General makes, and which I included in my letter to Kay Dawson Customer Manager at Molevalley Council: It is the "Military Family", in large, the loyalty and understanding each service person has for the other, the gentle teasing, encouragement from 'their mates' when the suffering gets too much. It is not imagination; any one who has had to spend a total of three or more months in a military hospital will know exactly what I mean.

Many of the hospitals closed were relics of a Victorian 19 century era and had been in a terrible state of disrepair.

However, its seems to me that the Iraq Afganistan casuality rate at present deserves a new tri service military hospital or at least a complete separated wing of a NHS hospital for security reasons not unlike the MOD did in Northern Ireland during the 36 years of Operation Banner

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/OperationsFactsheets/OperationsInIraqBritishCasualties.htm

Gentlemen, the Tory Government cuts began with John Knott prior to the Falklands War resulting in our Navy being so depleted that ships of the Merchant Fleet had to be hired to carry out the Falklands War. John Major quite rightly saw public money wasted in running Military Hospitals with few patients and resulted in their closure. It is only since the 'War on Terror' began that sufficient Military casualties has brought this back into the public eye, to meet with the problem the Government HAS opened special Military Wards so patients are with their own kind and have the required security, this in my view is the best way to go...Military Hospitals are a thing of the past, good whilst there, but outdated in the modern times!

What you miss here though is that those hospitals were taking veterans and NHS patients to help out the local services.

They also gave soldiers in the late eighties the opportunity to have their tatoos removed so that the plastic surgeons could practice their skills vide a war. Now I conceede that there was a need to tighten belts after the end of the cold war but common sense should have dictated the need for a cadre of medical services to be kept 'just in case'. It is always easier to reinforce a cadre rather than to virtually start all over again. All Governments are short sighted on defence issues as politicians only support defence when they need it, before and after there is always a void.

Those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it.

John