The Korea Medal was instituted in July 1951 and awarded for service in Korea between 1 July 1950 and 27 July 1953.
Eligibility
Personnel who served in the Korean War may be eligible to receive up to 3 medals:
- Korea Medal
- United Nations Service Medal (Korea)
- Australian Active Service Medal 1945-75.
Design
The Korea Medal is a cupro-nickel medal, 36 mm in diameter, with a straight bar suspender. The obverse bears the uncrowned effigy of the Queen surrounded by the words Elizabeth II Dei Gra Britt Omn Regina F.D.
The reverse shows an image of Hercules fighting the hydra, which was a symbolic representation of communism.
The Korea Medal ribbon is yellow, with 2 stripes of blue representative of the United Nations.
Members mentioned in despatches for operations recognised by the Korea Medal were approved to wear a bronze oak leaf on the medal ribbon and a small version as a ribbon bar emblem.
Source documents
Command Paper 8314 of Jul 1951 (PDF, 85.07 KB)
Army Instruction for the Korea Medal (PDF, 116.85 KB)
Royal Australian Air Force Air Board Order A82 27 Jul 1953 (PDF, 92.25 KB)