Medals

You would not believe the amount of 'stuff' that my F.M.i.L. had collected. Mentioned before that she never threw any clothing away, that also applies to paperwork and bits and pieces!
There's lots of treasures being found, not literally - no diamonds or gold. Marlane found her fathers medals from WW2 plus long service medal and a GSM for Malaya when the insurgency was happening in the early 1950's. Also amongst them was a GSM, without a medal ribbon, don't know what happened to that, for Betty. She was stationed in Malaya at HQ Far East Air Force Command but also spent time at RAF Changi (now Singapore international airport) where they met and married.
Julia taught me a neat trick. I have always polished my fathers medals, very carefully, with cocktail sticks, cotton buds, brasso and silvo. The trick Julia showed me was just to use a good eraser! It works a treat and prevents getting any of the cleaning liquid on the ribbons. I did Betty's GSM with an eraser and it came up very well, could do with a bit more work though, don't know how long it had been sitting in that envelope!