The New Zealand Special Service Medal (NZSSM) was established by royal warrant by

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

Queen of New Zealand The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, King Charles III, ascended the throne following the death of his mot ...

on 23 July 2002. The medal serves to recognize military service that would not otherwise be recognized by a

Campaign medal A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of an armed force who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a hig ...

Description

The circular medal is made of gold plated base-metal. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

depicts the New Zealand Coat of Arms. The reverse, depicts a bouquet of flowers native to New Zealand. This bouquet has fern fronds and flowers of the

Pohutukawa ''Metrosideros excelsa'', commonly known as pōhutukawa ( mi, pōhutukawa), New Zealand Christmas tree, New Zealand Christmas bush, and iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display o ...

, Manuka, Kowhai, and Mount Cook Lily. Across the base of the bouquet is a scroll bearing the words "FOR SPECIAL SERVICE". This design is shared by all three medals. The medal is suspended from a ribbon is 32 mm wide. The ribbon design varies based on the conditions under which the medal is awarded.

Criteria

New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing)

The NZSSM (Nuclear Testing) is a retrospective award, established 24 July 2002, presented to personnel who were part of a New Zealand Government presence at atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1950s and one in 1973. The tests recognized by this medal were at: *

Maralinga, South Australia Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s. In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...

, on 27 September, 4 October, and 22 October 1956, and 25 September 1957 *

Malden Island Malden Island, sometimes called Independence Island in the 19th century, is a low, arid, uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, about in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Republic of Kiribati. The lagoon is enti ...

, on 15 May, 31 May, and 19 June 1957 *

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

, on 8 November 1957, 28 April, 22 August, 2 September, 11 September, or 23 September 1958 *

Nevada Test Site The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the ...

, on 1 September 1957 * Enewetak Atoll, on 18 July 1958 *

Moruroa Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll ...

, on 22 July, and 28 July 1973 when the frigates, HMNZS ''Canterbury'' and '' Otago'' were sent to observe French nuclear testing The ribbon of this medal has black, white, red and crimson stripes at the left side with an orange center stripe and crimson, red, white and black stripes at the right side.

New Zealand Special Service Medal (Asian Tsunami)

The NZSSM (Asian Tsunami) was established on 22 December 2005 to recognize service in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. It recognizes a minimum of 7 days service from 26 December 2004 to 28 February 2005, or a minimum of 14 days from 26 December 2004 to 26 December 2005. Qualifying service is relief, recovery and reconstruction in affected countries. Countries affected where New Zealand citizens served were Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand. The ribbon of this medal has eleven vertical stripes of equal width in of red, white, blue, orange, green, yellow, green, orange, blue, white, and red. These colors are representative of the national flags of the countries affected by the tsunami.

New Zealand Special Service Medal (Erebus)

The NZSSM (Erebus) was established November 2006 to recognize service in the aftermath of the crash of

Air New Zealand Flight 901 The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE-901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board. Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled A ...

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. With a summ ...

, Ross Island, Antarctica on 28 November 1979. Qualifying service includes body recovery, crash investigation and victim identification. Service was performed at the crash site; during support and supply flights in and out of the crash site; at McMurdo Station; or the mortuary at Auckland University School of Medicine. The ribbon of the medal is seven vertical stripes in dark blue, light blue, white, black, white, light blue, and dark blue.

References