Ribbon, WW2 Africa Service Medal

The Africa Service Medal is a South African campaign medal for service during the Second World War, awarded to members of the Union Defence Forces, the South African Police and the South African Railways Police. The medal was originally intended for service in Africa, but it was later extended to cover service anywhere in the world.

The Africa Service Medal was awarded to members of the Union Defence Forces, the South African Police and the South African Railways Police.

To qualify for the medal, a member of those services must have volunteered for war service outside South Africa and must have served, either at home or abroad, between South Africa's declaration of war on 6 September 1939 and 2 September 1945 inclusive, continuously for thirty days or part-time for at least eighteen hours in non continuous training. As the name indicates, the medal was originally intended for service in Africa, up to the defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa in 1943, but it was later extended to cover service anywhere in the world, right up to the end of the war in the Pacific on 2 September 1945.

Union Defence Force land forces served in East Africa in 1940 and 1941, North Africa from 1941 to 1943, Madagascar in 1942, and Italy in 1944 and 1945. The South African Air Force served in all these campaigns, as well as in West Africa from 1943 to 1945, Sicily in 1943 and South-East Europe from 1943 to 1945, and provided air support to the Warsaw uprising in 1944. Naval forces and seconded personnel served in the Mediterranean from 1941 to 1945, Greece in 1941, the Arctic convoys from 1941 to 1945, the Java Sea in 1942, Sicily in 1943, the Indian Ocean from 1943 to 1945, the D-Day invasion in 1944, and the Pacific in 1945.

 Full size ribbon 32 mm width