Wearing the PJM.
To cut a long story short the Fight4thepjm team spent many months chasing a couple of files which the suits kept moving from one dept to another, eventually these files were returned to the National Archives at Kew.
Barry along with a researcher went to Kew and photographed every file to do with medals they could get their hands on dating back to the 1850’s. This is the date the suits went back too to deny us the right to wear the PJM.
If they can go back to that date so can we.
We all then spent many hours reading hundreds of pages some of them hand written.
This time was well spent as we found the London Gazette Notice which gives all holders of the PJM permission to wear as long as you were not in Crown Service when the medal was conferred.
Now I believe that the suits forgot about the London Gazette Notice when they denied us the right to wear the PJM because it took them a couple of months to come up with a file to say that the LG Notice did not apply to the PJM.
This file is called Ceremonial File H31.
Now they seem to drag this file out of the closet every time they are in a jam because this file has been opened and closed at least 37 times to my knowledge since 1939.
Now they seem to put what ever they like into this file whenever they want too then call it the current rules.
They put two statements in this file to try and deny us, but they took these two statements from two different files and used them out of context.
So I tracked these two statements down.
Statement one
“These regulations do not relate to awards of campaign or commemorative war medals.”
This statement comes from FCO 57 106-1968-69 (file No TXH 1/5).
Statement two
“It is well understood that offers by commonwealth and foreign countries of general service or campaign medals are not considered under the terms of the Foreign and Commonwealth Orders Regulations but are dealt with separately by the H.D. Committee by submission of separate Reports to the Queen.”
This Statement comes from FCO 57/15-1967-68 (file No TPD1/13/2) and is from the file concerning the London Gazette Notice, but has been taken out of context.
I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions as to why the suits did this but as far as I’m concerned if you were not in Crown Service when the PJM was conferred you can wear the PJM along side any other medals you may have.
The fight goes on until ALL holders of the PJM have official permission to wear this medal.