VINTAGE WW2 AUSTRALIAN BRITISH COMMONWEALTH THE PACIFIC STAR MEDAL

Original Pacific Star as awarded. 38mm wide bronze six-pointed faceted star with a lateral loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the crowned cypher of King and Emperor George VI centrally within a stippled ring inscribed ‘THE PACIFIC STAR’; the reverse plain; age-toned; on original ribbon.

The Star was instituted in May 1945 to be awarded for operational service between the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (8 December 1941) and V.J. Day (2 September 1945). Candidates must first have qualified for the 1939-1945 Star, for which Army personnel were required to complete six months’ service in an operational command, Naval personnel to completed six months’ service and at least one voyage in an operational area and Air Force personnel to participate in operations against the enemy and to complete two months’ service in an operational unit. The qualifying maritime areas for the award were the Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean east of a line running due south from Singapore around the south-east coast of Sumatra, through Christmas Island, and southwards along the meridian of 110 degrees east. The Star was also awarded for operational service during conflict in those territories where there had been invasions; these included Hong Kong, Malaya, Nauru, Ocean Island, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Borneo, Sarawak, Celebes, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Molucca Islands, the Solomon Islands, Sumatra, Timor, Java and New Guinea but not Burma.. The Star was awarded immediately if service was terminated by death, disability or wounding. Anyone qualifying for both the Burma and Pacific Stars would be awarded only one - the first-earned, the other being indicated by the corresponding ribbon bar.