Instituted in November 1952 and first awarded in 1953 the Army Emergency Reserve Decoration was awarded for 12 years’ service in the ranks, or for service in the supplementary Reserves between 8th Aug 1924 and 15th May 1948 prior to transferring to the Army Emergency Reserve. War service counted as double and service in the ranks counted as half.

The medal was abolished in 1967 following the formation of the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve.

Description:

Materials: The majority of the British medals and clasps are made of solid silver, though some were issue in bronze versions, mainly to Indian non-combatants. The majority of the British campaign awards are circular, usually 36mm in diameter.

Ribbons: Medals are worn suspended from their own specific ribbons. These were first made of silk but cotton was increasingly used as the nineteenth century developed. Their own colours often have a symbolic significance: the equal stripes of the ‘1939 to 1945 Star,’ for example, are dark blue to represent the service of the Royal and Merchant Navies, red, to represent that of the Armies and light blue to represent that of Air Forces.

Ribbon width can vary slightly though it is generally 32mm wide.

Ribbon – Dark blue with a central yellow

Army Emergency Reserve Decoration ribbon

Suspender - Ring

Type – Long service decoration

Eligibility – Members of the Army Emergency Reserve or Army Supplementary Reserve

Awarded for – 12 years of service

Established – 1952

Post nominals - Recipients may use the letters ERD after their name.

Description – Silver and silver-gilt skeletal medal, height 55mm; max. width 37mm. The obverse is an oval wreath of oak leaves with Queen Elizabeth II's Royal cypher in the centre and a crown at the top. Above the ribbon is a broach bar bearing the inscription ‘ARMY EMERGENCY RESERVE’.

This guide will help you through all the parts and descriptions of military medals

Sources:

Bigbury Mint

< gov.uk/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility>

Some of the material on this page was also partially derived from

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Reserve_Decoration>

Which are released under the terms of

Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-s/3.0/.