Rank:
Cook
Birth date:
01.01.1940
Service Number:
16045
Date Joined:
January 1957
Date Discharged:
14.10.1963
Display No. 19G
CLEWETT, Malcolm John
Malcolm Clewett enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) in January 1957. He joined the Cook trade and underwent training in HMNZS Tamaki before going to sea in HMNZS Rotoiti. In June of 1958, Clewett was posted to HMNZS Pukaki where he was on board for the nuclear tests of Operation Grapple. Pukaki was deployed as a weather and observation ship. After returning to Philomel for a short period, Clewett joined the crew of HMNZS Kaniere in July 1959. Clewett was then posted to HMNZS Lachlan at the end of 1961, where he served until early 1963. He then returned to Philomel reaching the rate of Cook. Clewett was discharged in 1963 after six years of service.
New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing), New Zealand Defence Service Medal
Awarded medal(s)
Medal Description [Left to Right]:
New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing)
The New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing) was awarded to personnel who were part of an official New Zealand Government presence at atmospheric nuclear tests between 1956 and 1973. This includes naval personnel who served in HMNZ Ships Pukaki and Rotoiti at Operation Grapple (British nuclear weapon tests in the Pacific), in 1957-58, as well as those aboard RNZN vessels sent to protest French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in July 1973. The medal is gilt. The obverse of the medal features a representation of the New Zealand Coat of Arms. The reverse features a representation of a bouquet of New Zealand flora, composed of fern fronds and sprigs of blossom of pohutukawa, manuka, kowhai and Mt Cook lilies with a scroll inscribed “For Special Service”. The ribbon is 32mm in width with an orange-yellow central stripe with Crimson, red, white and black stripes. The central stripe of the ribbon represents the core of the nuclear explosion fireball and stripes either side allude to the red luminous spherical wave formation radiating from it. The black represents the destruction caused by the explosion.
New Zealand Defence Service Medal
The New Zealand Defence Service Medal (NZDSM) was instituted in April 2011 to recognise military service since the end of the Second World War. One or more of four clasps can be awarded with the medal determined by military service undertaken: Regular, Territorial, C.M.T. (Compulsory Military Training) and National Service.
Eligibility is three years of service in either the Regular or Territorial (Reserve) Forces of the New Zealand Defence Force (Navy, Army, Airforce), or those who undertook Compulsory Military Training (under the Military Training Act 1949) or National Service (under the National Military Service Act 1962).
The medal itself has the New Zealand fern frond and the badge of the New Zealand Defence Force which combines the emblems of the (Navy, Army and Air Force). The ribbon colours also represent the three services: Navy (dark blue), Army (red) and Air Force (light blue).