A rare and desirable 'Battle for Hong Kong' and Far East Prisoner of War campaign & long service medal group of 5: Company Quartermaster Sergeant Alexander 'Alec' Steven, Field Ambulance, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Company

- The 1939-1945 Star. No clasp
- The Pacific Star. No clasp
- Defence Medal
- War Medal
- Efficiency Medal. GVI first issue with bar 'Hong Kong' (2050 C.Q.M.S. A. Steven H.K.V.D.C.)

Medals verification: The campaign medal rolls for the Second World War awarded to the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Company are not yet in the public domain, and currently only the Hong Kong Gazettes for 'the pre-war period are accessible for searching on-line. All the WW2 medals are however confirmed as entitled per the automatic entitlements for all Hong Kong military volunteers who served during the defence of Hong Kong 8-25 December 1941, per below referenced sources:

- The 1939-1945 Star: WO Code No 1911 'Campaign Stars and Commemorative Medals Instituted for the 1939-45 War (The War Office 11 June 1948)
- The Burma Star:
- Defence Medal:
- War Medal:
- Efficiency Medal. GVI 1st issue with 'Hong Kong' bar: Awarded in 1947 (recipient had enlisted in 1933, and post-liberation, medals only began to be issued again from 1947)

Important: Medals only began again to be published in the Hong Kong Gazette, from January 1947. In that year there were 2 x gazettes published that contained awards of Efficiency Medals 'Hong Kong', those gazettes were published on 15 August 1947 (containing 27 x medals) and 21 November 1947 (containing 18 x medals)

Reference 'The Efficiency Medal: Instituted 1930' (J.M.A. Tamplin, 1992). In the period 1 January 1937 to 31 December 1947, only an estimated 97 x awards of the Efficiency Medal GVI (first issue) with 'Hong Kong' bar were made. Of those no less then 50 x awards were made in the pre-war years 1937-1941, of which many- and most likely the majority - were lost during the 'Battle for Hong Kong', and the subsequent enemy occupation of Hong Kong 1941-1945

Alexander Steven, son of Robert Steven and Catherine 'Kate' Steven (nee Whitten), was a native of, Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was born on, 24 August 1905. Alexander was a pre-war expatriate living and working in Hong Kong Colony, where he had been resident since at least 1933. In 1937, on a return voyage with his young wife, Alexander or, 'Alec', was described as employed in Hong Kong as a Technical Assistant - in all post-war passenger manifests he is described as a Civil Servant of the Hong Kong Government. Alec enlisted in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps in March 1933 (his extant POW Liberated Questionnaire, held and accessible at The National Archives refers). He held the regimental number 2050, and at the time of the outbreak of the Pacific War, on 8 December 1941, he was holding the rank of Company Quartermaster Sergeant, and serving with the Field Ambulance unit of the K.K.V.D.C. - which multi-ethnic unit comprised 5 x Officers & 164 'Other Ranks' including Alec Steven. Alec was captured and became a Far East Prisoner of War on, 'Christmas Day', 25 December 1941, the fateful date when Hong Kong Colony was surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army. During, the following years of incarceration as a FEPOW, Alec remained in Hong Kong, where he was interred at Sham Sui Po Camp, on the mainland Kowloon peninsula, in which camp he came under the command of Major Boon, R.A.S.C.. Alec Steven survived the Second World War, and was liberated in September 1945. Prior to the Second World War, Alec had married Joan Leppard (b.1916). Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Hong Kong Government had provided an evacuation programme, for the wives and children of expatriate employees and member sof the military garrison, who were hipped to Australia. During the war, Alec's wife and children were living in Australia, where they initially resided at, 66 Pot Nepean Road, Aspendale, Melbourne, and later at, Melbourne, Australia. Post-war, Alec was reunited with his family in Australia, returning to the United Kingdom in. Passenger manifests for voyages from the United Kingdom, in November 1949, show that Alec Steven returned to Hong Kong Colony in 1949, to resume his career as a colonial civil servant, only retiring and returning to the United Kingdom in 1955. Alexander 'Alec' Steven is recorded to have died at. Worthing, Sussex, England, sometime during the last quarter of 1984

The medals mounted in the swing-style and as-worn by the recipient. The silk ribands suspended from a white metal medal mounting bar that retains its original long hinged pin and clasp fittings

The campaign stars sometime gilded - and attractive thus

Condition: About EF

Code: 24326