Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal

The Viet Nam Logistic and Support Medal: Established in February 1993, in order to extend recognition to persons who rendered service in support of the Australian Armed Forces in operations in Viet Nam between 29 May 1964 to 27 January 1973, but who did not qualify for the Vietnam Medal. The VLSM is also ranked with war medals. The Committee of Inquiry into Defence and Defence-related Awards (CIDA) extended eligibility of the medal to civilian surgical and medical teams and other civilian groups who served in Vietnam under Government jurisdiction. Persons who have been awarded or are eligible to be awarded the Vietnam Medal are not eligible for the award of the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal. The medal may be awarded posthumously. The medal is awarded for one day or more of service in the declared area of operations of Vietnam during the relevant period to persons who were:

a member of the crew of a ship or aircraft operating in support of the Australian Armed Forces;

attached to a unit or organisation operating in support of the Australian Armed Forces; or

attached to, or serving with, a unit of the Australian Armed Forces or allied forces as an observer.

This Medal was created in 1992 to recognise the service of Australian personnel who served in support roles during the Vietnam War. When this Medal was put in place, it provided recognition to those Australian men and women who played a vital role in supporting the Vietnam campaign in difficult or potentially dangerous situations, but who did not qualify for the Vietnam Medal. It provided recognition in particular to personnel who served in naval ships providing logistic support to our troops in Vietnam.

The Medal was put in place following the persistence of a number of veterans' groups including from the HMAS Sydney and Vietnam Logistic Support Veterans' Association. Description: The Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal is a nickel-plated circular nickel-silver medal of the same design as the Vietnam Medal. The suspender is of a different, plainer design than that of the Vietnam Medal. The obverse shows the crowned head of Queen Elizabeth II, with titles, while the reverse has a the inscription VIETNAM above a symbolic representation of the ideological war in Vietnam. A male figure stands between two spherical shapes. Adjacent to the right heel of the man on the reverse of the Medal is a cartouche of a ram's head, the mint mark of the Royal Australian Mint. The ribbon has a vertical central section of bright yellow which has centrally superimposed on it three thin stripes of red, (representing the South Vietnamese flag) flanked on the left by a dark blue stripe representing the Navy and on the right, a brown stripe representing the colour of inland and coastal waterways of Vietnam. These two stripes are flanked in turn on the left by a red stripe for the Army, and a light blue stripe for the Air Force.

We don't 'nickel and dime' you by supplying scant, unusable riband lengths, or worse, making riband a hidden-in-the-fine-print optional extra - every medal comes with 250mm of riband (full size) and 150mm (miniature). Ample for a complete professional court mount.