RSA offers to help with war medals

RSA curator Alan Bines holding the New Zealand Army Long Service and Good Conduct medal 1887-1931. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Rotorua RSA is offering to help people with their war medals in the lead-up to the centenary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli in April.

This year marks 100 years since the start of World War I and if you want to get your family medals cleaned, framed, mounted or replaced, Rotorua RSA museum curator Alan Bines can help.

Mr Bines recommends people visit him at the RSA within the next six weeks so the medals will be ready for Anzac Day.

"This is a special year, and I expect there'll be a rush.

"I don't like saying no to people, but if they don't get them in soon enough we won't be able to get them done. Particularly with getting them mounted."

Mr Bines said people could drop medals off at the RSA office with a note explaining what they would like done and he would get it sorted for them.

"For people who have lost their medals, I can get them replaced.

"If they need cleaning, I can get them cleaned, re-ribboned and resealed. A lot of the work I do I'll do for nothing just to help them out."

A popular service Mr Bines provides is mounting medals in a display frame, with the medal recipient's photo, name and regiment. "I started doing this because I found a lot of the oldies here came back and had one or two medals with the others all out with grandkids, so it's a good way to keep them all together.

"I'll also do a bar with just the ribbons for the kiddies."

If relatives do wear mounted medals, they should wear them on the right side, as the left is reserved for military personnel.

Mr Bines is currently working on restoring two Gallipoli medals for a special framed set to commemorate the centenary.

The first medal is "the proper one" while the second is known as "the Gallipoli Star that never shone".

There were only 200 Gallipoli Stars struck.

It was approved by King George V to be given to Anzac soldiers who served in Gallipoli, but was vetoed by the British Government because it could not be awarded to British soldiers. If you want help displaying, restoring or replacing your medals, you can call the RSA on (07) 348 1055.