Britain unveils new medal for families of 8,000 military dead since World War II

Britain unveils new medal to families of army dead

LONDON — Britain unveiled a new medal Wednesday that will be offered to families of about 8,000 military personnel killed on active duty or in terrorist attacks since World War II.

The nearest kin of military personnel killed in Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan will be among those eligible to receive the Elizabeth Cross, which is named after the reigning monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II told soldiers worldwide in an address on British Forces Broadcasting Service that the medal and accompanying scroll would demonstrate “our enduring debt to those who are killed while actively protecting what is most dear to us all.”

The Defense Ministry said it will contact families of the most recently slain soldiers. Relatives of pre-2000 fatalities must apply themselves for one of the silver emblems, which will carry the images of the national flowers of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

The medal is the first to bear the name of a reigning monarch since the queen’s father King George VI began awarding the George Cross from 1940 to recognized feats of extraordinary bravery.

The Defense Ministry said the new medal would cover campaigns in Palestine from September 1945 to the end of 1947, the Falklands and Northern Ireland conflicts, as well as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The honor will also apply to those killed in terrorist attacks, including the two unarmed British soldiers who were shot dead in March by Irish Republican Army dissidents outside a Northern Ireland army base — the first killings of troops in the British territory since the IRA’s 1997 cease-fire.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the new medal would ensure Britain’s fallen troops are properly honored.

“It will be a very special and fitting tribute for the great debt we owe to those personnel, as well as for the enduring loss felt by their families,” he said in a statement.