On 20 February 1941, the Dutch government in exile in London instituted several new awards for bravery. The new way that wars were fought, with civilian resistance and the merchant navy in great peril, made this necessary. Amongst the new decorations was the "Cross of Merit", ( nl, Kruis van Verdienste) an award for "working in the interest of the Netherlands while faced with enemy actions and distinguishing oneself through valor and resolute behavior". One did not have to be on the front line to win this award. The cross has often been awarded to those who managed to flee to England and to the armed resistance. It was rarely awarded after the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, but since the fighting of the Netherlands army in Afghanistan,

Uruzgan Uruzgan ( Dari), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot serves as ...

, this

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

decoration has been awarded again on a regular basis with the latest on 7 October 2009 to eleven Dutch soldiers. Bravery award for Afghanistan veterans
– Website Netherlands Ministry of Defence During the World War II in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

this cross was awarded to several people employed by the

Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (Dutch for Royal Packet Navigation Company), better known as KPM, was a Dutch shipping company (1888–1966) in the Netherlands East Indies, now Indonesia. It was the dominant inter-island shipping line in Indo ...

(K.P.M.) as some of their merchant navy ships had been commissioned by the Dutch Navy during the

Battle of the Java Sea The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...

. In case of repeated awards a large "2" or "3" is pinned to the ribbon. The Cross of Merit is the fourth-highest military decoration still being awarded for bravery and has precedence after the Bronze Cross.

References

External links

The Cross of Merit
- Official site of the Chancellery of the Netherlands Orders

- Website of the organization of veterans with the Cross of Merit {{in lang, nl Merit, Cross Awards established in 1941