Frederik Ferdinand "Fred" Ormskerk (26 April 1923 – 1 May 1980) was a Surinamese military leader. He was awarded many honors for his military services in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. After a

KNIL The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...

training at Camp Casino, Australia, he arrived in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

(now Jakarta). There, he became a soldier in the newly formed

Korps Speciale Troepen (KST; 'Special Forces Corps') was a Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) special forces unit that was established for deployment against the Indonesian revolutionaries during the Indonesian National Revolution. It was formed in 1948 with ...

(KST), led by Captain Westerling. He was nicknamed ''Bikkel'', which means "stud". In February 1980, the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

led by

Dési Bouterse Desiré Delano "Dési" Bouterse (; born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese military officer, politician, convicted murderer and drug trafficker who served as President of Suriname from 2010 to 2020. From 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname's ''de fact ...

took place in Suriname. Ormskerk allegedly launched a failed counter-coup on April 30 and afterwards was arrested, tortured and killed.

Awards

* Cross for Law and Liberty with Buckle Korea 1950 * United Nations Service Medal with Clasp Korea * Award of the Korean War Service Medal * Korean Presidential Unit Citation * Certificate of Appreciation 38th Infantry Regiment in Korea * Medal of honor attached to the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

in gold with Swords * Gold Medal due Prolonged, Honest and Faithful Service

References

1923 births 1980 deaths People from Nickerie District Surinamese military personnel Royal Netherlands East Indies Army personnel Military personnel of the Korean War Assassinated Surinamese people People murdered in Suriname {{SouthAm-mil-bio-stub