Commandant General's Medal
| Commandant General's Medal | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Awarded by the Commandant General and, from 1965, the State President | |
| Country |
 South Africa
|
| Type | Military marksmanship medal |
| Eligibility | All Ranks |
| Awarded for | Champion shot of the annual SADF Shooting Championships |
| Status | Discontinued in 1975 |
| Statistics | |
| Established | 1965 |
| First awarded | 1962 |
| Last awarded | 1975 |
| Total awarded | 14 |
| SADF pre-1994 & SANDF post-2002 orders of wear | |
| Next (higher) |
SADF precedence:
SANDF precedence:
|
| Next (lower) |
SADF succession:
SANDF succession:
|
 Ribbon bar |
|
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The Commandant General's Medal is a military marksmanship medal which was created by the Commandant General of the South African Defence Force in 1962 and formally instituted by the State President in 1965. It was awarded to the champion shot of the annual South African Defence Force Shooting Championships from 1962 to 1975. The year the award was earned, is shown on a bar which is worn on the ribbon. The award could be won multiple times, with each subsequent award indicated by an additional bar.
The Union Defence Forces (UDF) were established in 1912 and renamed the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1958. On 27 April 1994, it was integrated with six other independent forces into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
The Commandant General's Medal replaced the Queen's Medal for Champion Shots in the Military Forces of the United Kingdom, which stopped being awarded to South Africans after the country became a Republic on 31 May 1961. Even though the new medal was officially sanctioned from 1962 to 1965, the Commandant General was not an official Fount of Honour.
The medal was only formally instituted by the State President by Warrant dated 20 January 1965, published in Government Gazette no. 1018 dated 5 February 1965. The regulations, contained in Government Notice 183, were published in Government Gazette no. 1024 dated 12 February 1965.
From 1962, the medal was awarded to the overall champion shot of the annual South African Defence Force Shooting Championships. The year the award was earned, is shown on a bar which is worn on the ribbon. The award could be won multiple times and each subsequent award to the same champion was indicated by an additional bar.
The position of the Commandant General's Medal in the official order of precedence was revised three times after 1975, to accommodate the inclusion or institution of new decorations and medals, first upon the integration into the South African National Defence Force on 27 April 1994, again in April 1996, when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and again upon the institution of a new set of awards on 27 April 2003, but it remained unchanged on all three occasions.
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