The Silver Cross of Rhodesia was Rhodesia's second-highest military decoration for conspicuous gallantry. It was the equivalent of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

and

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM) was, until 1993, a British military decoration for gallantry in action for petty officers and seamen of the Royal Navy, including Warrant Officers and other ranks of the Royal Marines. It was formerly awa ...

, with all ranks eligible.

Institution

The award was instituted in 1970 by Presidential Warrant, the first awards being made in 1974. The last awards were made in June 1980.

Medal

The medal was a

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. '' Fine silver'', which is 99.9% pure silver, i ...

cross with an enamelled roundel in the centre bearing a lion's head, suspended from a ribbon woven half-red and half blue, with green edges and narrow white stripes at the inner edge of the green . The medal was impressed in small capitals with the recipient's name on the reverse, and was awarded with a case of issue, miniature medal for wear, and an illuminated certificate.

Recipients

A total of 34 awards of the Silver Cross of Rhodesia were made, three posthumously. Notable recipients included Martin Pearse, who was killed in Lusaka in 1979 during the attempted assassination by the

Rhodesian SAS The Rhodesian Special Air Service or Rhodesian SAS was a Rhodesian special forces unit. It comprised: *C Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment (Malayan Emergency (1951–1953) *"C" Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service (1961–1978) *1 (Rho ...

of the

ZAPU The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with the Zimb ...

insurgent leader

Joshua Nkomo Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and Matabeleland politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's ...

. Recipients were entitled to the post-nominal letters SCR.

Zimbabwe

The Silver Cross of Rhodesia was superseded in October 1980''Zimbabwe Government Statutory Instrument No. 677 of 1981'', 14 September 1981. by the Silver Cross of Zimbabwe, which is also awarded for conspicuous bravery, but which is open for award to civilians as well as military personnel.

Notes

References

*Pittaway, J, and Fourie, C., 2003. ''SAS Rhodesia''
Dandy Agencies
South Africa. *Saffery, D., 2006. ''The Rhodesia Medal Roll''
Jeppestown Press
United Kingdom. {{ISBN, 0-9553936-0-4

External links

SAS Recipients
Military awards and decorations of Rhodesia Courage awards 1970 establishments in Rhodesia 1980 disestablishments in Zimbabwe Awards established in 1970