Australia Service Medal 1939-1945

The Australian Service Medal was instituted in 1949 to recognise Australian service during WWII. Whereas other campaign medals of the war were issued by Great Britain to all parts of the Empire, the Australian Service Medal was specifically awarded to Australians. Initially, the qualifying criteria for the award was 18 months full-time service or 3 years part-time service during the duration of the war. This was later reduced to 30 days and 90 days, respectively.
Ribbon: has a wide khaki central stripe, flanked by two narrow red stripes, with edge stripes of dark blue on the left and light blue on the right. The khaki represents the Army, and the red, dark blue and light blue represent the Mercantile Marine, Navy and Air Force respectively.