The Australian Active Service Medal 1945–1975 recognises the service of Australian Defence Force and certain other persons in prescribed warlike operations in the period after World War II, and prior to February 1975. The medal was established in December 1997. The

Australian Active Service Medal The Australian Active Service Medal (AASM) is an Australian military decoration. It was authorised on 13 September 1988 to recognise prescribed service in "warlike" operations, backdated to February 1975. It is awarded with a clasp to denote ...

recognises warlike service after February 1975 until 2012 when the Australian Operational Service Medal was instituted.

Description

* The Australian Active Service Medal 1945–1975 is a nickel-silver medal ensigned with the Crown of St Edward. The obverse has a Federation Star with the inscription "The Australian Active Service Medal 1945–1975" in capital letters. * The reverse has a wreath of golden wattle flanking a central horizontal panel. * The medal ribbon is 32mm wide and has a central red stripe flanked by yellow stripes which in turn are flanked by stripes of blue, green and purple. These colours are representative of the ribbon colours of the Imperial awards previously issued for campaign service.

Related medals

Recipients of this medal are also entitled to the issue of the Returned from Active Service Badge. Recipients of the AASM 1945–75 may be authorised to wear up to three further medals for the same period of service; a UK campaign medal, a medal from an international organisation and a medal from a host nation. During this period campaign and service medals under the UK system were originally issued. The Australian system of honours was introduced in 1975 following which Australian service and campaign medals were issued to Australian Military Force personnel, and the issue of UK medals discontinued. The AASM 1945–75 was issued retrospectively to provide an Australian recognition of the service. The AASM 1945–75 was issued in addition to the existing UK medals. The UK medals remained recognised in the Australian Order of Precedence. UK medals applicable to a clasp are referenced with the clasp details. Personnel who receive this medal may also be entitled to receive a service or campaign medal from an international organisation or the host country, if they meet the eligibility criteria for those medals. These are treated as foreign medals in the Australian system, and if approved for wear on service uniforms, are worn after Australian medals in the order they are received. Some of the international and host nation medals have been granted a blanket authority for all recipients to wear. Others are approved on an individual basis. Any foreign medals with blanket approval to be worn are referenced with the clasp. In addition all UN medals are authorised for wear.

Clasps

The medal has the following clasps:

MALAYA

1 days service during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

from 16 June 1948 – 31 July 1960 : ''See also

General Service Medal (1918) __NOTOC__ The General Service Medal (1918 GSM) was instituted to recognise service in minor Army and Royal Air Force operations for which no separate medal was intended. Local forces, including police, qualified for many of the clasps, as could ...

with clasp Malaya'' : ''May also be eligible for the Malaysian Pingat Jasa Malaysia''

KOREA

1 days service during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

from 1 July 1950 – 27 July 1953 : ''see also

Korea Medal The Korea Medal (), sometimes referred to as the Queen's Korea Medal to distinguish it from the United Nations Service Medal, is a campaign medal created in 1951 to recognize troops from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom who ...

'' : ''see also the

United Nations Korea Medal The United Nations Service Medal Korea (UNSMK) is an international military decoration established by the United Nations on December 12, 1950 as the United Nations Service Medal. The decoration was the first international award ever created by the ...

MALAYSIA

1 days service in: *

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

from 8 December 1962 – 23 December 1962 *

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

and

from 24 December 1962 – 11 August 1966 *

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

and Singapore from 17 August 1964 – 11 August 1966 : ''See also

General Service Medal (1962) __NOTOC__ The General Service Medal (1962 GSM, originally referred to as the Campaign Service Medal), is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom introduced in 1962 to replace both the General Service Medal (1918), as awarded to the Army and RAF, ...

with clasps Malay Peninsula and Borneo'' : ''May also be eligible for the Malaysian Pingat Jasa Malaysia''

THAILAND

1 days service: * at RTAF Base Ubon from 25 June 1965 – 31 August 1968 * with 2 Field Troop, RAE at Ban Kok Talat in Operation CROWN from 25 June 1965 – 31 August 1968

THAI-MALAY

1 days service in: * Land and air anti-terrorist operations (1 August 1960 – 31 December 1964) * RAAF air operations (17 August 1964 – 30 March 1966) Initially, this service was recognised with a similarly named clasp to the Australian Service Medal 1945–1975, but it was upgraded to the AASM 1945–1975 in February 2002.

VIETNAM

For recipients of: * GSM (1962) with clasp South Vietnam – 24 December 1962 – 28 May 1964 *

Vietnam Medal __NOTOC__ The Vietnam Medal was a joint Australian and New Zealand campaign medal awarded for service in the Vietnam War. The medal was jointly developed by Australia and New Zealand, although there were separate Royal authorisation warrants for ...

– 29 May 1964 – 27 January 1973 *

Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal The Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal was issued to recognise the service of Australian support personnel during the Vietnam War. Qualification requirements The qualifying criteria for the medal include: * Service of one day or more as a member ...

– 29 May 1964 – 27 January 1973

References

External links

It's an Honour
– Australian Government website

site {{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975 Australian campaign medals 1997 establishments in Australia Awards established in 1997