Description
Physical description
medal with 3 clasps
circular silver medal 36 mm in diameter. The obverse design bears the bust of King George V, crowned, wearing robes and insignia of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, the whole surrounded by the legend 'GEORGIVS V KAISAR-I-HIND'. On the reverse, a fortress (Jamrud, which commands the Khyber Pass eleven miles from Peshawur), with ramparts and towers and the Union flag flying from the uppermost tower. Behind the fortress a range of mountains. In the foreground, beneath the fortress, a tablet bearing the text 'INDIA'. On either side of the tablet, and joined in the exergue by a ribbon bow, two laurel branches. The medal is suspended from an ornate, scrolled and swivelling bar. The ribbon, which is 32 mm in width, is green with a central vertical stripe of dark blue. The clasps are straight bars with fish-tail ends and double raised edges outlining the shape, supported at each end by a rosette. This particular example carries three clasps 'AFGHANISTAN N.W.F.1919', 'WAZIRISTAN 1919-21' and 'WAZIRISTAN 1921-24'. The medal is named to the recipient as follows: 'P OFFR.H.R.JUNOR.R.A.F'.
History note
India General Service Medal (1908-1935) awarded to Pilot Officer Hugh R Junor (DFC)
The first of the clasps on Junor's medal ('Afghanistan NWF 1919'), which covered the period 6 May-8 August 1919, was awarded for service in the Third Afghan War, under General Sir A A Barratt GCB KCSI KCVO ADC. This action marked the first occasion in which the Royal Air Force took part in the Indian campaigns. Approximately 850 clasps were awarded to RAF units, which included Nos 20, 31, 48 and 114 Squadrons. The second clasp ('Waziristan 1919-21'), covering the period 6 May 1919-January 1921, was for 'punitive operations' against the Tochi and Wana Wazirs and Mahsuds, who had caused considerable depredations since the end of the Third Afghan War. The operations were led by Major General Andrew Skeen KCB KCIE CMG, Indian Army. RAF squadrons present included Nos 5, 20, 27, 28, 31, 60 plus one flight each from Nos 97 and 99 squadrons. Some 600 clasps were issued to the RAF. The third clasp awarded to Junor ('Waziristan 1921-24') covered the period 21 December 1921 to 31 March 1924. The clasp was not issued for a single action but for a large number of smaller actions in North and South Waziristan, Bannu, the Dera Ismail Khan Civil Districts and that part of the Mianwali District which lay west of the River Indus. Approximately 600 clasps were awarded to the RAF. Squadrons serving at that period included Nos 5, 27, 28, 31 and 60.
The India General Service Medal (1908-1935) was the penultimate in a long line of campaign medals awarded for service on the Subcontintent.
For an outline biography of Hugh R Junor (and details of the award of his DFC) see OMD 920.
Impressed,rim
P-OFFR.H.R.JUNOR.R.A.F.
Embossed (on clasp)
AFGHANISTAN N.W.F.1919
Inscription
WAZIRISTAN 1919-21
Inscription
WAZIRISTAN 1921-24