Country United Kingdom Awarded for 15 years of service | Type Service medal Established 1932 | |
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Eligibility Volunteers of the British Red Cross or St Andrew's Ambulance Corps Clasps for each subsequent 5 years of service | ||
The Voluntary Medical Service Medal is a medal awarded by the British Red Cross and the Scottish St Andrew's Ambulance Corps. It was instituted in 1932 at the direction of George V.
Contents
Criteria
To qualify for the medal, a member must accrue fifteen years' continuous efficient service as a first aid volunteer in either the Red Cross or St Andrew's providing a minimum of ten hours field service per year. Service for the medal was retroactive to the creation of Voluntary Aid Detachments in 1909.
Appearance
The obverse of the medal bears a symbolic representation of Florence Nightingale carrying a lamp. The reverse features a design of both Geneva and St Andrew's crosses to denote the two qualifying organisations. Between the upper arms of the St Andrew's Cross is the text LONG AND EFFICIENT SERVICE. The medal is suspended from a straight swivel bar and hangs from a ribbon of red with yellow stripes at the edges and a thin white stripe in the centre.
On the suspension ribbon of the medal, clasps are worn to denote five additional years of qualifying service. In undress, on the ribbon of the medal, one silver emblem, denoting a St Andrew's or Geneva cross is added to the medal ribbon for five additional years of service. At twenty years of additional service the silver emblems are replaced by a silver-gilt emblem. Up to four silver-gilt emblems can replace the silver type to denote 25, 30, and 35 years of service in the applicable voluntary organisation.