Efficiency Medal. GVI first issue with bar 'India' (Pte. L. G. Mackenzie, O. & T. Ry. Bn. A.F.I.)

Medal naming is officially corrected - exactly as issued, and fairly typical for this particular medal issue

The recipient was holding the rank of Private while serving with the Oudh and Tirhut Railway Battalion. Auxiliary Force India

Important: The medal awarded sometime between April 1943 - August 1947, and rare seen to this unit that only existed in that regimental designation for 4 x years!

The origins of the Oudh and Tirhut Railway Battalion date back to the raising of this volunteer regiment in 1879. With Headquarters at Gorakhpur, the regimental insignia comprised a 'St. Andrews cross (Saltire) within a wreath of 'Thistles', the iconography being reflective of the strong Scottish presence amongst the early British and Eurasian volunteers. The chronology of the unit is shown below:

- 1879: Raised as Tirhoot State Railway Volunteer Rifle Corps
- 1892: Amalgamated with Ghazipur Volunteer Rifle Corps to become 'Bengal and North Western Railway Volunteer Rifles'
- 1917: Creation of the Indian Defence Force - on, 1 April, unit restyled, 22nd Bengal and North Western Railway Battalion
- 1920: Creation of the Auxiliary Force India - on, 1 October, unit restyled, Bengal and North Western Railway Battalion
- 1943: 3 April, final unit designation as 'Oudh and Tirhut Railway Battalion'

1943-1947: The composition of the unit after being redesignated for the last time in April 1943, remained the same, vis a Headquarters and one other Company. The effective strength of the unit as of 31 December 1943, was, 263 x 'All-Ranks', of which 190 were 'Active' and 73 ere 'Reservists'. By ethnicity the unit comprised 92 x Europeans & 171 x Eurasians. During the period 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1944, 2 x volunteers left the unit to be commissioned in the regular service, and 62 were enlisted as 'Other Ranks' in the armed forces

A most desirable rare to unit medal, to a small - possibly the smallest - 'Railway Battalion' of the A.F.I. - to a regimental designation that only existed for just over 4 years prior to the regiment being disbanded on the eve of Indian independence

The medal fitted with its original, stitched, silk riband.

Condition: About EF

Code: 23091