Description
Naval General Service Medal, GVI, bar S.E. Asia 1945-46, D/JX 581213 J. Cunningham, Able Seaman, Royal Navy.
Officially impressed: “D/JX 581213 J. Cunningham. A.B.” R.N.”
Excellent condition and a rare example of this clasp.
About 2100 clasps in total were awarded for this post war conflict.
Immediately following the end of World War 2, particularly the surrender of the Japanese in the region, the Royal Navy was sent alongside some of the British Army and the RAF to “re-establish the pre-war status quo in South East Asia”.
To qualify you would have see service for 28 days in one of 2 theatres:
1. Java and Sumatra, 3rd Sept 1945 – 30th November 1946
2. French Indo-China, 3rd September 1945 – 28th January 1946.
The Sailors were mostly all already on active service in the region during World War 2, being diverted there was the war ended.
Things were not as easy as they fought, as the Indonesian Resistance had sparked the Indonesian National Revolution on 17th August 1945 during a complicated period following the fall of the Japanese Empire who had occupied Indonesia during WW2 causing a power vacuum in the country.
Assisted by the Royal Navy and their guns, the British Army were deployed to Surabaya to fight in the Battle of Surabaya, which although a British Victory technically, ignited a fierce resistance from Indonesia through their heroic effort which helped galvanise their desire for freedom, now celebrated as “Heroes Day” every 10th November.
Britain were forced to withdraw from assisting the Netherlands in 1946, losing 1000 British & Indian Soldiers, eventually the Dutch lost the country, returning it to to the people of Indonesia in 1949.
The whole event that led to this clasp is widely celebrated in Indonesia as the birth of their free nation, having sent both the British and the Netherlands packing back home.
