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From the collection of Melbourne Legacy

3180 Items featured online

Medal, Australian Service Medal and Pacific Star Medal, 1949

Medals of A N Comben

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Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)

Conditions of use

All rights reserved

This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.

Attribution

Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)

Have a question? Contact Melbourne Legacy
Untitled image

Reuse this media

Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)

Conditions of use

All rights reserved

This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.

Attribution

Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)

Have a question? Contact Melbourne Legacy

Historical information

The Australian Service Medal and Pacific Star Medal that were awarded to Private Arthur Norman Comben VX26251 for his war service in World War Two.
From the AWM website Private Arthur N Comden of the 2/21st Australian Infantry Battalion, who died on Hainan Island, China, on 27 June 1945.
The DVA records show he was born 6 April 1907 in Yarraville and enlisted on 17 June 1940 whilst residing in Coopers Creek Victoria. His next of kin was shown as H Dilks. Also that he had been a prisoner of war.
His connection with Legacy is not known, he may have been a junior legatee though there's no record of his father Arthur Lewis Jno Shiels serving for Australia in WW1. More research is needed to check, it is possible the medals were donated to Legacy as no family members wanted them.

Significance

These are examples of World War 2 medals awarded to a serviceman who participated in the conflict in the Pacific region. Many returned servicemen joined Legacy after World War 2 and would have had similar medals.

Physical description

Silver circular medal and bronze star shaped medal from World War 2 mounted on ribbons initially together by a safety pin.
01700.1 The medal is nickel silver with the crowned effigy of King George VI on the obverse. The reverse has the Australian coat of arms, placed centrally, surrounded by the words ‘THE AUSTRALIA SERVICE MEDAL 1939-1945’. The normal ribbon is missing and it is on the ribbon meant for the UK War Medal which is of red, white and blue to represent the colours of the Union Flag.
01700.2 The six–pointed star is yellow copper zinc alloy. The obverse has a central design of the Royal and Imperial cypher, surmounted by a crown. The cypher is surrounded by a circlet containing the words ‘The Pacific Star’. The ribbon has central yellow and green stripes that represent the forests and the beaches of the Pacific, flanked dark blue, light blue and red stripes that represent the service of the Naval Forces and Merchant Navy, the Air Forces and the Armies.