Medals NEWS 2/2009
Honours and Recognition Newsletter
Vol. 3 Issue 2, December 2009
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Sacrifice Medal – Update
Last fall, the Minister of National Defence asked the Chief of the Defence Staff to review the criteria for the Sacrifice Medal and make recommendations to the appropriate government authorities. The review has now been completed and it has recently been announced that the criteria for the Medal have been amended with regards to posthumous awards. One of the major issues raised when the Medal was created was the fact that those who died in Afghanistan or elsewhere as a result of service but not as a direct result of hostile action were not eligible for the Medal.
Consequently, the posthumous criteria for the Medal have been extended to cover all service-related deaths, regardless of location. This brings the posthumous aspect of the Sacrifice Medal in line with the new criteria for the Memorial Cross, the Memorial Scroll and Bar as well as inclusion in the Seventh Book of Remembrance.
The criteria remains unchanged for those who are wounded, inasmuch as the requirement remains that the wounds must be the direct result of hostile action, must have required treatment by a medical officer and that the treatment must be duly recorded. This aspect of the Medal therefore remains linked with the old Wound Stripe which it replaced. The start date and the design of the Medal itself are unaffected by the changes.
The Revised Criteria
In short, the revised criteria includes:
- deaths that are related to military service provided the person was serving in the CF on or after 7 October 2001 and died on or after that date; and
- wounds that are the direct result of hostile action or an action which was intended for a hostile force provided that:
- the wound occurred on or after 7 October 2001;
- the wound was serious enough to require treatment by a medical officer; and
- the treatment has been duly recorded.
The medal is not limited to service in Afghanistan, but applies to all theatres of operations and, in the case of terrorist attacks, anywhere in the world. Non-fatal accidents, even in theatre, are not eligible; neither are relatively minor wounds that can be ‘patched up’ by the platoon medic. Friendly fire and operational stress injuries which are the direct result of a hostile action will carry eligibility under certain circumstances. For the medal to retain its value, Commanding Officers and medical personnel will play a key role in ensuring the criteria are applied strictly and uniformly.
Recipients of the Medal who subsequently meet the criteria for an additional incident will be awarded a bar.
Sergeant Lance Thomas Hooper, M.S.M., C.D., receives his Sacrifice Medal with Bar from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada at the inaugural ceremony for the Sacrifice medal, ?rideau Hall, 9 November 2009.
Issued by the Directorate of Honours and Recognition
(DH&R) - 4 December 2009
Telephone : 1-877-741-8332
Website : www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhr-ddhr/index-eng.asp
