It's terribly sad about the war medals (6)
I believe the answer is:
awards
'medals' is the definition.
(I know this)
'it's terribly sad about the war' is the wordplay.
'it's terribly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sad' is an anagram of 'ads'.
'ads' going around 'war' is 'AWARDS'.
(Other definitions for awards that I've seen before include "Prizes and presentations" , "Official prizes or payments" , "Prizes like Academy Oscars" , "Confers upon, gives prize" , "Grants" .)