Established in 1982 the Ulster Defence Regiment Medal was a long service medal awarded to part-time officers and men of the Ulster Defence Regiment. To qualify for the medal it was required to have 12 years’ continuous long and effective service since 1st April 1970, with a bar being awarded for each subsequent six years of qualifying service.

The Ulster Defence Regiment Medal was superseded by the Northern Ireland Home Service Medal in 1992, but the historical issue of the Ulster Defence Regiment Medal continues.

Full-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were eligible for the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Ulster Defence Regiment) after 15 years of service.

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 green with a yellow central stripe edged in red

Ulster Defence Regiment Medal ribbon

Suspender - Ornate

Type – Long service medal

Eligibility – Part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment

Awarded for – 12 years efficient service

Established – 1982

Post nominals - Officers awarded the medal were entitled to use the post-nominal UD

Designed by - David Wynne

Total Awarded – 1,254+

Clasps / Bar – Bar being awarded for each subsequent six years of qualifying service

Description – Made of silver and 36 mm in diameter. The obverse depicts the crowned head of Elizabeth II wearing the Imperial State Crown with the inscription ELIZABETH II DEI GRA:BRITT:OMN:REGINA F:D, or ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID.DEF. The reverse depicts a crowned harp in the form of an angel and the inscription surrounding the design ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT.

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

Sources:

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

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

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Defence_Regiment_Medal >

Which are released under the terms of

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