Description
Physical description
Circular bright bronze medal. The obverse design bears the figure of Athene Nike, the Goddess of Victory as a full-length winged figure, her left arm extended and holding a palm branch in her right hand. The reverse design bears a wreath of laurel surrounding the centrally positioned text which reads 'THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION 1914-1919'. The medal has a small ring suspender. The medal is suspended from a silk ribbon of red, yellow, green, blue and violet, shaded and watered, to produce the colours of two rainbows. This example has affixed to the ribbon an emblem of oak leaves in bronze to indicate the recipient received a Mention (or Mentions) in Despatch. The medal is approximately 36mm in diameter and the ribbon 36mm in width. The obverse was designed by W McMillan. This example is named to the recipient as follows: 'COMMR. A.W. BUCKLE. R.N.V.R.'.
(Component parts: medal and ribbon)
Label
The Victory Medal (1914-1919) was authorised in 1919 to commemorate the victory of the Allies over the Central Powers. It was decided that each of the Allies should issue a 'Victory Medal' to their own nationals to obviate the necessity of an exchange of commemorative awards between the various nations. It was also decided that all issues of the medal would share a common design, namely the figure of 'Victory'. Rather obviously not all nations recognised the classical Greek goddess of Victory, Athene Nike, so countries were allowed to use whatever figure represented Victory in their own particular culture. The issue of the medal was optional and, in the event, the following Allied nations issued medals: Great Britain, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Roumania, Thailand, the Union of South Africa and the USA. All British Imperial troops who qualified received the British version of the medal with the exception of the Union of South Africa which issued its own version with the inscription on the reverse in both English and Dutch (not Afrikaans as is often stated). Another feature common to most of the medals is the ribbon. In various permutations, the ribbon contained the main colours that appeared in the flags of the Allied nations. This resulted in a ribbon which looks very similar to a double rainbow.
History note
First World War campaign medal awarded to Commander Archibald Walter Buckle DSO, Anson Battalion, Royal Naval Division.
For outline biographical note see OMD 4083.
Impressed (on rim)
COMMR. A.W. BUCKLE. R.N.V.R.