#research hell

For “““The Captain’s””” medal bar:

The medals are of course (if you have seen season 5) on backwards / in reverse order so they are from left to right:

War Medal 1939 - 1945

Defence Medal

France and Germany Star

1939 - 1945 Star

More detailed breakdown below:

War Medal 1939 - 1945

This medal is a award for British Commonwealth citizens that served full-time in the armed forces or the merchant navy for at least 28 days between the 3rd of September 1939 and the 2nd of September 1945 [duration of WWII]

[Cap might could have had this medal- I say might because he was a military commissioned officer and he was serving at the time presumably longer than 28 days BUT I don’t know if the medal hinges on if said soldier actually saw combat. If that’s the case he wouldn’t have been eligible.]

You can find the wiki page [here]

Defence Medal

This medal was a campaign medal that could be awarded to civilians and military personnel for certain non-operational military and civilian war services!

[Fun fact - Cap could have actually feasibly had this one! It was available to military personnel working in headquarters, on training bases ect… during the duration of the war in Europe who did not see action.]

You can find the wiki page [here]

France and Germany Star

This is another campaign medal for forces who served in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands or Germany and adjacent sea areas between 6th June 1944 - 8th May 1945. The “Atlantic” part is for a special clasp that could have been worn on the ribbon bar if earned.

[When Cap mentions / lies about being in France in S5E5 if it had been literally anyone else but Cartwright he might have actually got away with it cause this medal was for soldiers that served in that area. As far as medals he could have had though this one is DEFINITELY not one.]

You can find the wiki [here]

1939 - 1945 Star

This was again, another campaign medal that was awarded to British Commonwealth forces for service in WWII. There were 2 clasps that could have gone with this ribbon the Battle of Britain and Bomber Command clasps neither of which are shown so this is a more general operations campaign medal. It was awarded for specified periods of operational service overseas between September 3rd 1939 - either 8th of May or 2nd of September 1945. The broad criteria for the medal is basically 180 days of service between those time periods but can be more specific depending on the branch of service.

[Cap probably would have not been eligible for this one either since he never saw action.]

Full Wiki [here]

An like I said before, Captain is wearing the bar backwards the correct order is supposed to be: 1939 - 1945 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939 - 1945. So yeah whoever Captain “borrowed” these medals from they were probably a soldier who served overseas for a while maybe in the beginning they served within Britain itself on a base not necessarily directly seeing action but later went into active combat.

✨Bonus Round ✨

(I couldn’t help myself-)

⚠️ DEFINITE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SEASON 5!!

Havers’ Medal Bar:

Top row left or right:

Military Cross

1939 - 1945 Star

Africa Star

Bottom row left to right:

Italy Star

France and Germany Star

Africa Service Medal (unsure)

???? (Cannot Identify appears to have red edges and a blue center)

Military Cross

“The MC is granted in recognition of "an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land" to all members of the British Armed Forces of any rank.”

It’s a decoration, which is a class above medals awarded for specific deeds rather than campaigns. It’s a really big award to have for a army soldier.

See Wiki [here]

1939 - 1945 Star

Explained this one with the ribbons on The Captain’s ribbon bar so see further above!

Africa Star

Awarded to forces who served in North Africa between 10th of June 1940 and 12th of May 1943.

Havers specifically is not one of the special variants it’s the regular ribbon.

See Wiki [here]

Italy Star

Awarded to forces who served in the Italian campaign from 1943 - 1945.

Now this is VERY interesting regarding Havers’ potential backstory- The Italian campaign began shortly after the Allies claimed victory in the North African campaign. SO. My new theory is following the conclusion of his service in North Africa Havers was redeployed to the Italian campaign! For those who don’t know the Italian campaign began with Operation Husky also known as the Battle of Sicily it was one of the largest amphibious assaults in history before Operation Overlord (D-day) in 1944.

Link: [Operation Husky],

See medal Wiki [here]

France and Germany Star

Again we already went over this one with Cap’s ribbon bar!

Update: 23rd November 2023: The below info is WRONG- see red note for clarification!

Africa Service Medal

Aaaaand I hit the picture cap limit so here’s the link to the wiki :/

Also I would like to clarify I’m not 100% on this one because there appears to be a light blue stripe on the very front edge of the ribbon that is NOT present on this ribbon so this one could be wrong!

According to wiki it says this medal was awarded to members of the Union Defence Forces, the South African Police and the South African Railways Police for service during WWII!

The final medal I cannot identify if anyone has a clearer screenshot of Havers’ ribbon bar send it my way so I can look at it! The only medals I know of that are British decorations that have red edges with a blue center are that Red Cross nursing medals because they have solid blue centers but I do not think it is any of those medals! Reason being up till like 1979???? The medals were only awarded to women men wouldn’t be eligible for it long after when Havers would have been wearing this in canon. So I’m not sure of that medal and I’m not gonna say anything further about it.

But! This is really interesting Info regarding Havers! It seems that during the war after fighting in North Africa he probably fought his way up through Sicily into probably either France or Germany directly and he was awarded a medal for exemplary gallantry! So that’s my best guess regarding Havers’ actions during the war!

An of course we know that Cap didn’t actually own his medals but I figured I would share info about them regardless! This was really fun to dig into!

I was already doing research on British WWII medals for my own personal project so I figured I would take a break and share some speculations!

⚠️ Not sure if people saw my reblog / update of this post! So here- ⚠️

HAVERS’ FINAL MEDALS ARE THE DEFENSE MEDAL AND WAR MEDALS!

My original analysis about the Africa service medal was INCORRECT and I could not make out the last one! We now have photos post season 5 of Havers that I was able to get a better look at now I’m 100% sure they are the Defense Medals and War Medals respectively!