Arctic Star
| The Arctic Star | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Awarded by the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms | |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Type | Military campaign medal |
| Eligibility | All Ranks |
| Awarded for | Entry into operational service |
| Campaign(s) | Battle of the Atlantic, for service north of the Arctic Circle |
| Statistics | |
| Established | 19 December 2012 |
| First awarded | 19 March 2013 |
| Order of wear | |
| Next (higher) | Atlantic Star |
| Next (lower) | Air Crew Europe Star |
| Related | Atlantic Star |
 Ribbon bar |
|
The Arctic Star is a military campaign medal which was instituted by the United Kingdom on 19 December 2012 for award to subjects of the British Commonwealth for service in the Second World War, specifically those who served on the Arctic Convoys north of the Arctic Circle.
Altogether eight campaign stars and nine clasps were initially instituted for campaign service during the Second World War. On 8 July 1943, the 1939–1945 Star and the Africa Star were the first two of these Stars to be instituted. One more campaign star, the Arctic Star, and one more clasp, the Bomber Command Clasp, were belatedly added on 26 February 2013, more than sixty-seven years after the end of the war.
Only one of these campaign stars, the 1939–1945 Star, covered the full duration of the Second World War from its outbreak on 3 September 1939 to the victory over Japan on 2 September 1945.
No-one could be awarded more than five (now six) campaign stars and no-one could be awarded more than one clasp to any one campaign star. Five of the nine (now ten) clasps were the equivalents of their namesake campaign stars and were awarded for the same respective campaigns as those stars, to be worn on the ribbon of that campaign star of the applicable group which had been earned first. The maximum of six possible campaign stars are the following:
The Arctic Star is a retrospective award, coming nearly seven decades after the end of the Second World War, and was announced in late 2012. It was formally approved by the Queen for award to those who served on the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War, and production began in early 2013.
The institution of the medal, and of the Bomber Command Clasp, was the end result of a 16-year-long campaign by Commander Eddie Grenfell, Lieutenant Commander Dick Dykes and Merchant Navy veteran Jock Dempster, who stressed that service in the arctic convoys north of the Arctic Circle was entirely different from that in the Atlantic, for which the Atlantic Star had been awarded, with different aims and different conditions which had been described by Winston Churchill as "the worst journey in the world".
The institution of the Arctic Star has been controversial, since it is the first British medal to be instituted and awarded using a dead monarch's cypher or effigy, who did not give permission for it to be instituted. The medal has also been criticised by other groups, who maintain that the veterans of the convoys had already been amply rewarded with medals for this campaign, and they should not have received special treatment over other veterans who have been denied similar recognition.
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Wikipedia