WW2 (C.S. 20) Army Medal Cards – Information from Freedom of Information Requests

WW2 Medal Card Front

WW2 Medal Card Back
A privately held copy of a CS 20 Application For Issue Of Campaign Stars And Medals card which was not completed by 10669918 H.F. Varey Royal Army Service Corps. The cards were intended until transfer to the Army Medal Office at Droitwich (by 1957) to be processed by the relevant Army Record Offices. With the decision not to engrave the claimants name and military details on WW2 Campaign medals it was possible for the Record Offices to send out the relevant Campaign medals without reference to the War Office. Whereas in WW1 other ranks or their next of kin were automatically sent the Campaign medals they qualified for, the WW2 Campaign medals were only sent out to other ranks in the immediate post war years if they completed a C.S. 20 Card. Officers continued to need to apply for their Campaign medals as had been the case following WW1.

‘Request SPVA 16-12-2013-120323-006 (Reply dated 14 January 2014)

“1. How many requests does the Medal Office receive each year (or on average each year) either for check to be made to see that medals have been issued to entitled WW2 veterans or their families, or for the new issue of WW2 medals…

2. How many requests for WW2 (either a check to see whether they had been issued or for a new issue of medals to an entitled veteran or their families) were made in the last year for which a figure is available?”

‘The information below is the number for all World War Two enquiries, issues and rejections (which includes requests for information) from when the Medal Office stood up in April 2005 to 1 December 2013.

…………………………….2005   2006    2007    2008   2009   2010    2011   2012    2013

Approved              6,394   7,858   5,579  5,435   5,391   4,391  3,794   3,029   6,618

Rejections/Non     2,474   7,951   4,221  4,657   4,097   2,963  2,529   2,867   3,385

Issues

Total                      8,868  15,809  9,800 10,092  9,488   7,354  6,323   5,896   10,003

Notes:

  • The figures exclude the recently instituted Arctic Star and Bomber Command Clasp.
  • The discrepancy in 2013 is due to those cases yet to be assessed that are still ‘open’.’

 

Request 16-12-2013-152047-010 (Reply dated 14 January 2014)

“I would like to ask the following question about the CS20 Medal Cards holding data on medals issued to individuals who served in the Army in WW2 and after which are kept by the Medal Office: How are the CS20 cards filed? Is it by name/surname, date of birth or by some other system?”
‘CS 20 cards are filed in alphabetical surname order. They are held by the Department’s Record Services partner TNT.’

Request 17-12-2013-145027-019 (Reply dated 14 January 2014)

“I would like to ask the following questions about the CS20 Medal Cards holding data on medals issued to individuals who served in the Army in WW2 and after which are kept by the Medal Office;

  • Can you provide a figure for the number of cards held within the system…
  • Approximately what amount of space in storage does the CS20 card system occupy and if it is in filing cabinets how many drawers does it require to house the system?”

‘Estimated number of drawers containing Medal Index Cards: 1, 140
Estimated number of cards per drawer: 1,370
Estimated number of Medal Cards: 1,561,800’

 

Request 23-12-2013-124748-006 (Reply dated 14 January 2014)

“When an enquiry is received about the issue of medals to a WW2 Army serviceman or woman and a CS20 card is found for them showing the medals have already been claimed is their CS20 card amended to show that an new enquiry has been received or is a new computer record created to record the enquiry?”
‘The CS20 card is not annotated each time there is an enquiry. When an application is processed only a photocopy copy of the CS20 card is requested from TNT. New information is only recorded on the Medal Office Database.’