The combination of the 1914/15 Star, Victory Medal and War Medal was fairly commonplace. You could observe hundreds of them in Armistice Day parades, right up to the early ’70′s. This combination earned for itself the common nickname, ‘Pip, Squeak and Wilfred’.
Popularly known as the Mons Star, this medal was awarded to all officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, and all men of the British and Indian Forces, including civilian medical practitioners, nursing sisters, nurses and others employed with military hospitals; as well as men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who served on the establishment of their unit in France and Belgium between August 5th 1914, and midnight of November 22/23rd, 1914.
Similar to the 1914 Star it was issued to all personnel mentioned above, with certain exceptions, who served in a theatre of war before December 31st 1915 and who did not qualify for the earlier star.
The British War Medal, 1914-18.
The basic requirement was that a member of the fighting forces had to leave his native shore in any part of the British Empire while on service. It did not matter whether he/she entered a theatre of war or not.
This medal was awarded to all those who entered a theatre of war. It follows that every recipient of the Victory Medal also qualified for the British War Medal, but not the other way round. The Victory Medals continued to be awarded after the Armistice, for the British forces who saw action in North Russia (up to October 12th, 1919) and Trans-Caspia (up to April 17th, 1919) also qualified.
