#also i do actually wonder why the inspectors ended up in kembleford

[mystery-and-history]

Sullivan in WWII

So, I was thinking about what the Father Brown characters would have been doing during the war(s) and how it would have affected them. Then I remembered that in season 3 episode 4, “The Sign of the Broken Sword”, some characters have medals, with Father Brown and Inspector Sullivan being the only main characters to have them. I don’t know much about medals, but the internet is a wonder and I decided to figure out what they mean. 

(Also I have no idea if anyone else has already looked into it and talked about it, so sorry if this has already been done.) 

I decided to look into Sullivan’s first, mostly because Father Brown only wears his in a few scenes near the end and Sullivan’s was the first to pop up. (Also we have barely any of Sullivan’s history and I know we’re all frothing at the mouth for it). 

I do plan to research and do a separate post for Father Brown, too, but for now, let’s jump in:

The picture quality’s not great, but you get the idea. I’m getting most of my info and all the pictures from Wikipedia, so thanks, Wikipedia!!

The first one is the 1939-1945 Star:

This bad boy was created in July of 1943 and would cover the whole duration of the war. To receive this medal, you basically had to serve 180 days in the navy, army, air force* (air force crew/ground crew), or merchant navy. It’s also not specific to any theater of war. 

So, this one doesn’t really tell us much. All it confirms is that Sullivan served for quite a while in any of the above mentioned forces in... anywhere the war was going on. 

*In the RAF, you could qualify for the medal after only serving 60 days rather than 180.

The second one is the France and Germany Star: 

A quick note on this one: the colors on the ribbon in real life were blue, white, and orange, while the one on Sullivan is blue, white, and red. However, I could not find a medal that matched the one in the picture exactly, and aside from the orange/red thing, everything else matches up perfectly. I feel pretty confidant that this is it, but please correct me if I’m wrong. 

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the title of this medal, this one was given to forces who served in “France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands or Germany and adjacent sea areas between 6 June 1944 and 8 May 1945” (Wikipedia). There are very specific boundaries for this, which I’m not going to put here, but feel free to check out the article if you wish. 

This one is more specific, which is nice! Sullivan spent his active duty at least partially in the European theater. The only question is, which force? 

The medal could technically be awarded to someone in the army, navy, or air force. However, based on the fact that there’s a special Air Crew Europe Star, which Sullivan does not have, I think RAF is ruled out. There is also an Atlantic Star, which conflicts with someone earning the France and Germany Star (don’t ask me why the medals conflict; I don’t understand it either). I guess someone could be in the navy in Europe-adjacent seas but not the Atlantic? 

Personally, based on those facts, I’m leaning towards Army for him, but there’s nothing to completely rule out the other two.  

The third one is the Defence Medal: 

This one is very general. It could be given for a huge range of things within the armed forces and civilians could earn it as well if they were in war-adjacent services. So, nothing really here. 

The fourth medal is the War Medal 1939-1945: 

Now, this one is actually incredibly interesting! Not because of the medal itself, but we’ll get there. 

So this one is also fairly general, a person basically had to serve in any force for 28 days anywhere the war was going on to earn it. This would tell us nothing. However, if we look closely at the picture again, there is something slightly different about this one:  

There’s a little thingy on it. At first, this threw me off, because at a distance, I thought it was a little logo or something. But upon reading further, I realized that it’s actually a bronze oak leaf emblem. Here’s what it looks like up close: 

To quote Wikipedia: “A bronze oak leaf emblem is worn on the ribbon to signify a mention in dispatches, a King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, or a King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.” 

This tells us that Sullivan received one of those three. Which one, we can’t be sure, but let’s take a look at all the possibilities:

 A mention in dispatch is basically when a person is specifically named in a report that their superiors would write to high command, saying that that person had done something particularly brave in action. They’d get the bronze oak leaf emblem and a certificate about it as well. Before 1920, this was not a very common honor, but I’m not sure how common it was in WWII. These mentioned in dispatches would also be recorded in the London Gazette. 

There doesn’t seem to be too much difference, as far as I can tell, between the mentioned in dispatches and a King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct. Though, this one is “not in the face of the enemy”. Before 1945, this was simply known as a commendation, but they had to be dramatic and add the other few words eventually, I suppose. Additionally, these were also published in the newspapers. 

Finally, there’s the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air. Which is exactly the same as the one for Brave Conduct, but obviously in the air. 

So, we don’t know which of these three it could be. I guess the mentioned in dispatches one would probably be the coolest since it’s in action, but really, I think all of them are neat and it’s interesting that he has any one of them. 

(The story of him earning this would be an incredible fic, btw) 

Now, this last one tripped me up. It’s not actually a WWII medal, but a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal:

It took me lots of random googling to figure out what this one was. Anyway, to quote Wikipedia once more: “This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir from the Queen to members of the Royal Family and selected officers of state, members of the Royal Household, government officials, mayors, public servants, local government officials, members of the navy, army, air force and police in Britain, her colonies and Dominions. It was also awarded to members of the Mount Everest expedition, two of whom reached the summit four days before the coronation.[1] It was struck at the Royal Mint and issued immediately after the coronation.[2]” 

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth was on June 2, 1953. I would say that that places this episode after that day, but we all know Kembleford is stuck in Perpetual 1953 anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. 

So, there you have it! All of Sullivan’s medals and what they tell us about his history. 

Of course, we don’t know how much of this was the costume department having fun and how much was intentional for his character on the whole. I’m personally considering this canon, as we have literally nothing else to go on, but if you asked the people running the show, they might disagree. 

This was pretty fun to put together. I think I’m going to look into Father Brown’s medals tomorrow. Anyways, thanks for reading :) 

#father brown #father brown bbc #inspector sullivan #sullivan #tom chambers #father brown 2013 #i apologize if there are any mistakes it's getting kind of late here lol #mine #also big thanks to wikipedia #also also should mention I'm a dumb american so i might not get some uk-specific things right #fb reference