General Service Medal (Rhodesia)
Encyclopedia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
's most widely-awarded military decoration, awarded to members of the security forces and British South Africa Police
British South Africa Police
The British South Africa Police was the police force of the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes which became the national police force of Southern Rhodesia and its successor after 1965, Rhodesia...
for service on operations undertaken for the purpose of combating terrorists or enemy incursions into Rhodesia.
Institution
The medal was instituted in 1968. The medals appear to have been last issued in June 1980, although in 2002 the Zimbabwe National ArmyZimbabwe National Army
The Zimbabwe National Army is the land warfare branch of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The ZNA currently has an active duty strength of 30,000.-History:...
advertised their intention to dispose of 9,000 unclaimed medals, and invited recipients to claim them.
Medal
The medal was struck in cupro-nickel by Matthews Manufacturing of BulawayoBulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...
, and bore a relief portrait of Cecil Rhodes on the obverse and the arms of Rhodesia on the reverse. The ribbon of the medal represented the British South Africa Police
British South Africa Police
The British South Africa Police was the police force of the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes which became the national police force of Southern Rhodesia and its successor after 1965, Rhodesia...
(central stripes of Oxford blue and old gold); the Rhodesian Army (guardsman red) and the Rhodesian Air Force (Cambridge blue). The medal was impressed in small capitals with the recipient's name, rank and service number on the rim.
Recipients
"Tens of thousands" of Rhodesian General Service Medals were issued. Awards were not gazetted, and no full roll of recipients has ever been published.It was known familiarly as the "First Street Medal" (after the main street in the capital city) as it was so widely awarded.