Presentation of Medals
I have just wrote a reply to Big Jude, thought i'd start this thread and let everyone know my thoughts on medal presentation And why i'm so passionate on this subject. Let me say from the outset that a sequence of events while i was in pussers had a marked influence on why im so touchy on this subject. It was in about 1988 and both myself and ABCK Peter Morgan were called into the chiefs office By TAM WESTERHOFF, he said you 2 have to go down to the personell office and pick up your LSGC MEDAL so we went down both thinking that we would see the man and he would present the gongs to us with congratulations and a well done fellas. By this time i had done 17 years and Pete had done 18 so we were quite senior ABs. We gets down to the personell office and this young Wran scribe who had only been in 10 minutes said can i help you we said were here to get our medals. She went away went to a drawer and came back with the medals and 2 pieces of paper and said sign these we signed them and that was it, no well done or nothing. At a time when medals were routinely presented to recipients at divisions i found this to be a real kick in the guts. We went back down to the Main Galley and i told Tam what had transpired and i said you'd think they could have had the old man give it to us. I was still seething about this when i marched into commmander S office and threw the medal down on his desk and said this means f**** all to me you might as well stick it where the sun dont shine.> He could tell i was upset and any one that knows me i wasnt too shy in coming forward, he went all red and i told him what had transpired and he was all apologetic and he said i will fix it so this does'nt happen again. At our next divisonal meeting he duly presented the medals to me and Pete and although it was'nt the same it was something and at least those that followed after me would be accorded the right ceromony when being presented with a decoration I got into a bit of shit over this but i thought this was handled very badly. Now perhaps you will understand why i'm like i am when it comes to medals. This getting your medals sent to you in the mail is a crock of shit and i have made representations to my local member and have sent a letter in to the medals section asking that all medals be properly presented . I had no reply, My dad was a returned ww2 veteran who saw active service overseas. He never applied for his medals so when he paseed away i applied for his medals on mums behalf and imagine my suprise when they turned up in the mail some 6months later My dad gave his life for this country as did so many others and what a kick in the guts. Medals were handed out with no reverance to their significance and in my mind this is so wrong and i urge you cookie monsters out there if you get your gong in the mail take the thing to your local members office and do what i done to commander S all those years ago youll be suprised with the result its not a matter of whinging and winning its your god given right to have your medal pesented in the proper way. The powers to be are so blase' about this it really pisses me of sorry to take so long on this. I would dearly love to hear what some of you have got to say on this matter with a view to making a submission to my local member Ideas on other ways of presenting medals would be good keep well every one and look forward to hearing from you . Regards Quinny
I have just wrote a reply to Big Jude, thought i'd start this thread and let everyone know my thoughts on medal presentation And why i'm so passionate on this subject. Let me say from the outset that a sequence of events while i was in pussers had a marked influence on why im so touchy on this subject. It was in about 1988 and both myself and ABCK Peter Morgan were called into the chiefs office By TAM WESTERHOFF, he said you 2 have to go down to the personell office and pick up your LSGC MEDAL so we went down both thinking that we would see the man and he would present the gongs to us with congratulations and a well done fellas. By this time i had done 17 years and Pete had done 18 so we were quite senior ABs. We gets down to the personell office and this young Wran scribe who had only been in 10 minutes said can i help you we said were here to get our medals. She went away went to a drawer and came back with the medals and 2 pieces of paper and said sign these we signed them and that was it, no well done or nothing. At a time when medals were routinely presented to recipients at divisions i found this to be a real kick in the guts. We went back down to the Main Galley and i told Tam what had transpired and i said you'd think they could have had the old man give it to us. I was still seething about this when i marched into commmander S office and threw the medal down on his desk and said this means f**** all to me you might as well stick it where the sun dont shine.> He could tell i was upset and any one that knows me i wasnt too shy in coming forward, he went all red and i told him what had transpired and he was all apologetic and he said i will fix it so this does'nt happen again. At our next divisonal meeting he duly presented the medals to me and Pete and although it was'nt the same it was something and at least those that followed after me would be accorded the right ceromony when being presented with a decoration I got into a bit of shit over this but i thought this was handled very badly. Now perhaps you will understand why i'm like i am when it comes to medals. This getting your medals sent to you in the mail is a crock of shit and i have made representations to my local member and have sent a letter in to the medals section asking that all medals be properly presented . I had no reply, My dad was a returned ww2 veteran who saw active service overseas. He never applied for his medals so when he paseed away i applied for his medals on mums behalf and imagine my suprise when they turned up in the mail some 6months later My dad gave his life for this country as did so many others and what a kick in the guts. Medals were handed out with no reverance to their significance and in my mind this is so wrong and i urge you cookie monsters out there if you get your gong in the mail take the thing to your local members office and do what i done to commander S all those years ago youll be suprised with the result its not a matter of whinging and winning its your god given right to have your medal pesented in the proper way. The powers to be are so blase' about this it really pisses me of sorry to take so long on this. I would dearly love to hear what some of you have got to say on this matter with a view to making a submission to my local member Ideas on other ways of presenting medals would be good keep well every one and look forward to hearing from you . Regards Quinny