Pacific Star

 

World War II.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Pacific Star was a British Commonwealth campaign medal presented for service during World War II. The medal was instituted in 1945 and was awarded for operational service in the Pacific Theatre between 8 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

 

Additionally, the medal was also awarded for certain specified service in China, Hong-Kong, Malaya and Sumatra between the following dates: Hong Kong - between 8 December 1941 and 25 December 1941, China and Malaya - between 8 December 1941 and 15 February 1942, Sumatra - between 8 December 1941 and 23 March 1942.

 

Second World War service in China, Hong Kong, Malaya and Sumatra after the above end dates was recognised by the award of the Burma Star.

 

The qualifying sea areas for the award of the Pacific Star are the Pacific Ocean (including the South China Sea) and the Indian Ocean east of a line running due south from Singapore round the South-East coast of Sumatra, through Christmas Island, and southwards along the meridian of 110° East.

 

The star was immediately awarded if the service period was terminated by death, disability or wounding.

 

 

The medal is of a six–pointed star design and was struck in yellow copper zinc alloy, with a height of 44mm and a maximum width of 38mm.

 

The obverse of this medal has a central design of the Royal Cypher of King George VI, surmounted by a crown. The cypher is surrounded by a circlet containing the inscription; ‘THE PACIFIC STAR’.

 

The reverse is plain, with the recipient's name impressed only on the medals issued to Australian and South African forces. The ribbon is attached to the medal by a ring that passes through the uppermost point of the star.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and consists of a number of vertical stripes. The jungle is represented by dark green, the beaches by the yellow stripe. The Royal Navy (and Merchant Navy), Army, and Royal Air Force are represented by stripes of dark blue, red, and light blue respectively.

 

The ribbon for this medal, along with those of the other Second World War campaign stars, is reputed to have been designed by King George VI.

 

 

British uniform regulations stipulated that Burma Star would not be awarded to a recipient of the Pacific Star. Subsequent entitlement to the Burma Star was denoted by the award of the Burma Star bar.

 

When the ribbon is worn alone, a silver rosette ribbon emblem is worn to denote those who subsequently qualified for the Burma Star.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Pacific Campaign.

- The Burma Campaign.

 

The Pacific Campaign - The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theatre of World War II which was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area which included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, the South-East Asia, and in China (including the 1945 Soviet-Japanese conflict).

 

It is generally considered that the Pacific War began on 7/8 December 1941, on which dates the Empire of Japan invaded Thailand, attacked British possessions in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and the United States military base in Pearl Harbour. Some Historians contend that the conflict in Asia can be dated back to 7 July 1937 with the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China, or possibly 19 September 1931, beginning with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

 

However, it is more widely accepted that the Pacific War itself started in early December 1941, with the Sino-Japanese War then becoming part of it as a theatre of the greater World War II.

 

The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the latter briefly aided by Thailand and to a much lesser extent by its Axis allies, Germany and Italy. The war culminated in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and other large aerial bombing attacks by the United States Army Air Forces, accompanied by the Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 8 August 1945, resulting in the Japanese announcement of intent to surrender on 15 August 1945. The formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Burma Campaign - The Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was fought primarily between British Commonwealth including Canadians, Chinese and elements of the United States forces against the forces of the Empire of Japan, Thailand, and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from British India along with some 100,000 African colonial troops. The Burmese Independence Army was trained by the Japanese and spearheaded the initial attacks against the British forces.

 

The campaign had a number of notable features. The geographical characteristics of the region meant that factors like weather, disease and terrain had a major effect on operations. The lack of transport infrastructure placed an emphasis on military engineering and air transport to move and supply troops, and evacuate wounded. The campaign was also politically complex, with the British, the United States and the Chinese all having different strategic priorities.

 

It was also the only land campaign by the Western Allies in the Pacific Theatre which proceeded continuously from the start of hostilities to the end of the war. This was due to its geographical location. By extending from Southeast Asia to India, its area included some lands which the British lost at the outset of the war, but also included the areas of India where the Japanese advances were eventually stopped.

 

The climate of the region is dominated by the seasonal monsoon rains, which allowed effective campaigning for only just over half of each year. This, together with other factors such as famine and disorder in British India and the priority given by the Allies to the defeat of Nazi Germany, prolonged the campaign and divided it into four phases: the Japanese invasion which led to the expulsion of British, Indian and Chinese forces in 1942; failed attempts by the Allies to mount offensives into Burma, from late 1942 to early 1944; the 1944 Japanese invasion of India which ultimately failed following the battles of Imphal and Kohima; and, finally, the successful Allied offensive which reoccupied Burma from late-1944 to mid-1945.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.