Irish in the British Armed Forces British Armed Forces. In fact, from the nations which were part of the British Empire, the only country which has more winners is England with 614. Ireland, with 190 awards (not including Irish diaspora born abroad), outranks Scotland who have 158 and Australia who have 97. When awards per number of people in the total population are taken into account, Ireland's awards would be the equivalent of England gaining 2,850 Victoria Crosses. Charles Davis Lucas of the Royal Navy from County Armagh was the man whose actions were the earliest to be rewarded with a Victoria Cross, due to his
Armed Forces Service Medal is the inscription "ARMED FORCES SERVICE MEDAL". The reverse bears the eagle found on the United States Department of Defense seal. Below is a laurel wreath with the inscription "IN PURSUIT OF DEMOCRACY" at the top. The suspension and ribbon of the medal are wide and consists of the following edge stripes from outside edge to the center: goldenlight, jungle green, green, mosstone green, and goldenlight. The center stripe is wide in bluebird. The Armed Forces Service Medal is the non-combat parallel of the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal which is normally awarded for combat operations and other combat support missions.