The Military Cross ( nl, Militair Kruis, french: Croix Militaire) is a military long service decoration of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It was established by

Royal Decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

on 11 February 1885 and is awarded to

commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

in the

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became indepen ...

for loyal and uninterrupted service or to Non-Belgian military officers for distinguished service in favor of the

Military of Belgium The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became independ ...

Award Criteria

Belgian Military Officers

The Military Cross, second class is awarded to Belgian military officers after 25 years of service.
The Military Cross, first class is awarded to Belgian military officers after 25 years of service as a

commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

. In the Belgian military, years of actual service are sometimes multiplied with a certain factor when calculating the minimum due time for a long service award (to compensate for service in the air or on the battlefield). No such 'bonifications' may be applied when calculating the time served, required for the award of the Military Cross. Officers of the

military reserve A military reserve, active reserve, reserve formation, or simply reserve, is a group of military personnel or units that is initially not committed to a battle by its commander, so that it remains available to address unforeseen situations or ex ...

can also be awarded this decoration, on the condition that they are part of the trained (active) reserve forces and that their time served wasn't honored by the award of the

Civic Decoration The Civic Decoration (french: Décoration Civique}, nl, Burgerlijke Ereteken}) is a civilian decoration of the Kingdom of Belgium. It was first established by royal decree on 21 July 1867 to reward exceptional acts of bravery, devotion or human ...

. When serious disciplinary actions were taken against an officer, resulting in a temporary relief of duty, each month (begun) of non-activity results in a penalization of 12 months when it comes to the calculation of the service time required for this award. For example 34 days of non-activity due to disciplinary actions results in a penalization of 2 years, meaning the officer will receive the second class of the Military Cross after 28 years of service, instead of the usual 25. This penalization is limited to 6 years per disciplinary action. This limit is reached whenever a temporary relief of duty of 7 months or more is ordered, which happens almost never.

Non-Belgian Military Officers

The Military Cross may be awarded to

Commissioned Officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

of non-Belgian armed forces for distinguished service towards the Belgian Defence. In such a case, the second class is awarded to officers below the rank of

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

. The first class is awarded to general officers.

Appearance

The Military Cross is a black enamelled

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...

with a 1 mm gilt edge, the cross arms end in eight 2 mm in diameter gilt spheres. Gilt crossed swords pointing up are positioned between the arms of the cross. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

central medallion bears the Belgian "lion rampant", pre 1952, the reverse medallion bore the royal cypher of the reigning monarch, post 1952, the reverse is identical to the obverse. Suspension is by means of a ribbon through a suspension ring passing through the orb of a pivot mounted crown. The green silk moiré ribbon has two 5 mm wide red stripes set 1 mm from the ribbon's edges. The Military Cross First Class differs only from the second class award in the form of a rosette on the ribbon in the same colours as the ribbon.

Devices

When the first class of the medal is awarded, a rosette is attached to the ribbon.

Notable recipients (partial list)

As Belgian military officers receive the award as a long service awards, their names have been omitted from this list. *

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Colonel Dean King - Military Cross Second Class *Brigadier General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

- Military Cross First Class (1918)

References

Other sources

* Quinot H., 1950, ''Recueil illustré des décorations belges et congolaises, 4e Edition.'' (Hasselt) * Cornet R., 1982, ''Recueil des dispositions légales et réglementaires régissant les ordres nationaux belges. 2e Ed. N.pl''., (Brussels) * Belgian military regulation DGHR-REG-DISPSYS-001 of 20 February 2006

External links

Belgian Military Cross at Northeastmedals
(In French)

(In French)

(In French and Dutch)

{{Belgium honours Military awards and decorations of Belgium Awards established in 1885 1885 establishments in Belgium