Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Gijs Pepijn Tuinman, (born

Heerlen Heerlen (; li, Heële ) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the fourth municipality in the province of Limburg. ...

, 15 November 1979),Gijs Tuinman, held tegen wil en dank
de Volkskrant, 20 October 2014. is an officer of the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...

. Tuinman is one of the only three living knights 4th class of the

Military Order of William The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William (Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Oran ...

, the oldest and highest

order of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order (distinction), order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic Military order (religious society), military orders of the ...

of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

Life

Gijs Tuinman was born in 1979 in Heerlen, where he attended the Bernardinuscollege from 1992 to 1998. In 1998 he went to the Royal Military Academy in

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

. In 2001 he became a platoon commander in the

Korps Commandotroepen The (KCT) ( en, Commando Corps) is the elite special forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Army. The KCT traces its origins to the Second World War with the founding of No. 2 (Dutch) Troop, and the founding of the during the Indonesian War of I ...

to be. By 2009, he had been on at least five deployments to Afghanistan, several to Africa and other missions.Bescheiden maar doeltreffend
Defensiekrant, 24 October 2014. On 7 October 2009, for a mission in 2006, he was awarded the

Bronze Lion The Bronze Lion ( nl, Bronzen Leeuw) is a high Royal Dutch award, intended for servicemen who have shown extreme bravery and leadership in battle favouring The Netherlands; in some special cases it can be awarded to Dutch or foreign civilians. It ...

, the second highest military decoration awarded by

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

. From 2009 to 2012, he was special operations policy adviser at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in The Hague. After this he was a 'citizen' consultant at

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

. He returned to military duty in 2013.Curriculum vitae majoor Gijs Tuinman
defensie.nl

Military Order of William

On 4 December 2014 at The

Binnenhof The Binnenhof (; en, Inner Court) is a complex of buildings in the city centre of The Hague, Netherlands, next to the Hofvijver lake. It houses the meeting place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministr ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Tuinman was knighted by

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beatr ...

, receiving the fourth class' knighthood of the

. The King referred to Tuinman and

Epke Zonderland Epke Jan Zonderland (born 16 April 1986) is a Dutch artistic gymnast and the 2012 Olympic gold medallist on high bar. He is a 4-time Olympian (2008–20) and has also taken 3 World Championships golds on high bar at the 2013, 2014 and 2018 W ...

in his Christmas speech in 2014.

Decorations

* Knight 4th class of the

(RMWO) *

* Commemorative Medal Peacekeeping Operations * Four Day Marches Cross *

NATO Medal The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem, Belgium. Ba ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuinman, Gijs Knights Fourth Class of the Military Order of William Royal Netherlands Army officers 1979 births Living people People from Heerlen Recipients of the Bronze Lion Graduates of the Koninklijke Militaire Academie 20th-century Dutch military personnel 21st-century Dutch military personnel