The New Zealand Special Service Medal (NZSSM) was established by royal warrant by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand 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 high ...

Description

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

New Zealand Coat of Arms The coat of arms of New Zealand ( mi, Te Tohu Pakanga o Aotearoa) is the heraldic symbol representing the South Pacific island country of New Zealand. Its design reflects New Zealand's history as a bicultural nation, with a European female figur ...

. The reverse, depicts a bouquet of flowers native to New Zealand. This bouquet has fern fronds and flowers of the Pohutukawa, Manuka, Kowhai, and

Mount Cook Lily ''Ranunculus lyallii'' (Mountain buttercup, Mount Cook buttercup, or, although not a lily, Mount Cook lily), is a species of '' Ranunculus'' (buttercup), endemic to New Zealand, where it occurs in the South Island and on Stewart Island at alt ...

. 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, on 15 May, 31 May, and 19 June 1957 * Christmas Island, on 8 November 1957, 28 April, 22 August, 2 September, 11 September, or 23 September 1958 * Nevada Test Site, on 1 September 1957 *

Enewetak Atoll Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

, on 18 July 1958 * Moruroa, on 22 July, and 28 July 1973 when the frigates, HMNZS ''Canterbury'' and ''

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

'' 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 An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

. 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 on Mount Erebus,

Ross Island Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound. Ross Island lies within the boundaries of Ross Dependency, an area of Antarctica claimed by New ...

, 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 McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

; 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