Lot 4807

Description

Shell Oil On Active Service Medal, WWII, in silver, reverse inscribed 'A. M. Mitchell'. No ribbon, very fine.

National Service was encouraged by the Shell Oil Company. From the inception of the war, the Company announced its policy of encouraging national service, and members of the staff either in the militia, A.I.F. or other permanent forces, had their military pay subsidised by the Company, so as to bring the total up to the same salary as they were in the habit of receiving prior to enlisting. They also received other gifts and the above medal. The names of those who enlisted from Victoria were on display on an honour board in the entrance to the Head Office building in Melbourne bearing the exhortation:-
"Each of us has a paramount duty to strive with all our powers, at whatever cost, to contribute to our Nation's struggle to overthrow the forces arrayed against our fundamental conception of the rights of men. It is up to each man to ask himself is HE now doing everything possible to pull his own weight in whatever sphere his duty lies to achieve this end." The company also contributed financially to the war effort and other staff set up a War Fund to provide other help and service to Australia's fighting men.