Defence Force Service Medal with clasp : G O Penny, RAAF

Defence Force Service Medal with clasp. Pantograph engraved reverse with recipient's details.

Associated with the service of Graham Owen Penny. The Defence Force Service Medal was announced in 1982, and first issued in 1984. It is awarded for fifteen years service (not necessarily continuous) in the Australian Defence Forces, at least twelve of these years having been in the permanent forces. Clasps to the medal may be awarded for further periods of five years service. Penny had one clasp, indicating he served for approximately 20 years in the defence forces in both the Army and the Royal Australian Air Force.

52689 Private Graham Owen Penny was born on 30 January 1935. In the 1950s he enlisted in the Australian Army and served at Korea from 15 February 1955 to 6 February 1956 with 1 Royal Australian Regiment (RAR). The Korean War had ended before Penny was sent to Korea. The end of the war came with the signing of an armistice on 27 July 1953 but Australian forces remained in Korea long enough to ensure the armistice was effective.

Between 1953 and 1956 the Australian battalions in Korea were primarily involved with fortifications, rehabilitation and training. Every few weeks, they would take part in Operation Scram. An alarm call would sound and the entire force would stand to across the Korean peninsula to test readiness to repel surprise attacks.

In April 1954 1RAR relieved 2 RAR, who returned to Australia. This left 1 RAR and 3 RAR in Korea, until September, when it was announced that 3RAR would be withdrawn, but not replaced. The Australians had been stationed on the Kansas Line, south of the Imjin river. In October 1954, 1 RAR built new accommodation called Gallipoli Camp, the troops moved from the Kansas Line to this camp. For the next seventeen months 1 RAR remained at Gallipoli camp, occupied in training, exercises, taking part in Operation Scram, policing the southern boundary of the demilitarised zone and maintaining the Kansas Line. 1 RAR was finally withdrawn from Korea in March 1956. Other Australian personnel remained with the Commonwealth Contingent until it was dissolved in August 1957.

By 1963 Penny had enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force. In 1963 A17162 Leading Aircraftman Penny was injured in a service transport accident while serving with No 1 Control and Reporting Unit . He later served in the Malayan Peninsula / Singapore area between June 1965 and August 1966. Between 1962 and 1966 Indonesia and Malaysia fought a small, undeclared war which came to involve troops from Australia and Britain. The actual war began when Indonesia launched a series of cross-border raids into Malaysian territory in early 1963. Australian units which fought during Confrontation did so as part of a larger British and Commonwealth force under overall British command.

Australia's commitment to operations against Indonesia in Borneo and West Malaysia fell within the context of its membership in the Far East Strategic Reserve. Altogether, two infantry battalions, two squadrons of the Special Air Service, a troop of the Royal Australian Signals, several artillery batteries and parties of the Royal Australian Engineers were involved in Borneo. Ships of the Royal Australian Navy served in the surrounding waters and several RAAF squadrons were also involved in Confrontation. Continuing negotiations between Indonesia and Malaysia ended the conflict, and the two sides signed a peace treaty in Bangkok in August 1966. The lack of a rosette on the Defence Force Service Medal ribbon indicates that Penny had been in the defence forces for approximately 15 years when he wore this ribbon bar.