Ancestry adds United Kingdom, WWII Medals Issued to Merchant Seamen, 1939-1945

You'll find 108,427 entries in this TNA index database newly added to Ancestry. I wasn't going to mention it until I discovered that an Ancestry search now easily finds an index record for my father, and it gives his date of birth. I don't know that its accurate but it is the one he always celebrated.

There's information on this TNA collection, in BT 395, which lists the medals awarded to merchant seamen for their service in the Second World War (1939-1945). "The medals were claimed and issued from 1946 to 2002. Medals were not automatically issued, but had to be claimed by the merchant seaman. You can find out whether a medal was issued by looking at the markings on the records."