It wasn't until I ended my service that I understood. I'm not telling anyone else what to do with medals they earned. But for me--the last thing I would want to do is to place them on a civilian garment and walk about with them. They mean something more to me than that.
I think there is some confusion here as to when medals and decorations are worn on mufti. In the UK and the Commonwealth, they are only worn on Remembrance Day, ANZAC Day, various regimental days, church parades and other appropriate events. I can't imagine why anyone would find fault with ex-servicemen displaying their medals on said days.

The late George McDonald Fraser has a wonderful epilouge in his memoir of his WWII service with the Border Regiment, Quartered Safe Out Here in which he discusses the 50th anniversary of WWII and the gathering of the "old and bold". His comments about wearing his gongs and how he heard a grandchild cheering for his grandfather on the march past that would move even the hardest heart.

Respectfully,

Todd