What is British War Medal?
[[File:WW1 British War Medal.jpg|right|frameless]] The '''British War Medal''' was a [[medal]] given to people who had fought in the [[First World War]]. The medal was originally meant to be for people who had fought in the war between [[5th August]] [[1914]] and [[11th November]] [[1918]], but this was later changed to the years between 1914 and [[1920]]. This was because a lot of people still lost their lives in the [[armed forces]] even after the war had ended, because they were clearing [[landmines]] or mines at sea. The British War Medal (often shortened to BWM) was awarded to both [[officer]]s and men of the [[Royal Marines]], Royal Navy, the Army and also the [[Dominion and Colonial Forces]]. The Dominion and Colonial Forces were the armed forces for the rest of the [[British Empire]]. To [[qualify]] for (be allowed to have) the medal, a member of the fighting forces had to have left his native country in any part of the British Empire whilst on [[military duty]]. There were over six and a half million British War Medals given out. Most of them are made of [[silver]], but some [[rare]]r ones are made of [[bronze]] instead. They are all [[Circle|circular]], and have different designs on each side. Each side of a medal is called a ''face''. The face that usually has a picture of the side view of a person's head on it is called the ''obverse'', and the other side of the medal is called the ''reverse''. The picture of the person's head is more commonly known as a ''[[bust]]'', which is a type of [[statue]] that only shows the head, neck and tops of the shoulders of the person it is meant to be. The ''obverse'' side of the medal shows a bust of [[King George V]] (V is a [[Roman numeral]]. Here it means 'the [[fifth]]'). The picture shows him facing left. There is also lettering around the picture of the King, which reads 'GEORGIVS V BRITT : OMN : REX ET IND : IMP :'. The 'V' in 'GEORGIVS' is actually read as a 'U'. The whole message is [[abbreviated]], or shortened, and is supposed to read 'Georgius V Britan