The Ceylon Volunteer Service Medal (sometimes referred to as the Government of Ceylon War Medal) is a non-wearable

campaign medal A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of an armed force who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a hi ...

awarded by the Government of

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

to all members of the Ceylonese armed forces that volunteered for overseas service during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The exact number of medals struck is disputed, with sources citing numbers between 450 and 3000. The medal was the only one of its kind, Ceylon being the only British

crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...

to issue a medal of its own for its citizens' service in the war. Those awarded the medal were servicemen of the

Ceylon Defence Force The Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was established in 1910 by the Ceylonese legislation ''Ceylon Defence Force Ordinance'', which reformed the Ceylon Volunteer Force (CVF) that existed previously as the military reserve in the British Crown colony ...

(including the all-European Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps).

Design

The medal was cast in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, having dimensions of 45 x 52 x 3 mm. The obverse depicts the personification of Ceylon- a seated, right-facing robed and laureate female figure placing, with her right hand, a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a symbol of triumph, a wreath (attire), wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen. It was also later made from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cher ...

crown on the bowed head of a left-facing soldier kneeling on his left knee. The soldier rests his cap on the ground with his right hand, while the background depicts a multi-rayed sun setting into the sea behind them. An inscription above the scene reads: Above the words is a short piece of laurel wreath, bound. The reverse depicts a front-facing illustration of

Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

- a winged, robed and laureate female figure seated on a throne. Her right hand is raised aloft, holding a laurel wreath, while her left holds a shield emblazoned with the coat of arms of Ceylon. A plaque inscribed with the recipient's name is located at the figure's feet, above a skull and spiked helmet obscuring a horizontal

scythe A scythe (, rhyming with ''writhe'') is an agriculture, agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It was historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains before they underwent the process of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceylon Volunteer Service Medal Military awards and decorations of Sri Lanka Military awards and decorations of World War I Awards and decorations for military volunteers

Design

See also

References