British and Commonwealth personnel, as well as UK allies have, in the course of service with Airborne Forces been awarded a huge number of campaign medals.

The following provides a brief list of some of the most common awards. This list is not definitive, or intended to be in order of precedence, but indicate the campaign and service medals most commonly awarded to Airborne Forces personnel.

Generic World War Two Service Medals

These medals were designed to recognise national service in the war effort across civil society. These differ from Campaign Medals so whilst most recipients were services personnel, these medals could also be awarded to civilians in national defensive organisations such as the Home Guard, WAAF and Fire Service. These include the following:

Campaign Medals

Campaign Medals usually refer to a period of service during a specifically identified campaign. These are usually termed geographically, and can either refer the country where the campaign occured or, in some cases, a more generic name for the wider region. Where the Second World War campaigns were often given separate campaign stars, after the war this was replaced by General Service Medal (to which clasps are attached) and more recently the Operational Service Medal for the same purpose. These include the following:

International campaign awards

From their inception in the Second World War to the present, Airborne Forces have always worked closely with UK allies over numerous campaigns. In the course of these duties several foriegn campaign awards have been made to Airborne Forces personnel. These include the following:

General Service Awards

In the course of their military service, many personnel have become eligible of official awards in recognition of their long service and active role in the Armed Forces at specific ceremonial times. These include: