Military Cross (Belgium)

Military Cross
Military Cross First Class
Type	Military decoration
Awarded for	Loyal and uninterrupted or meritorious service.
Presented by	Kingdom of Belgium
Eligibility	Commissioned Officers
Status	Currently awarded
Established	11 February 1885

Ribbon, First Class Ribbon, Second Class

Precedence
Next (higher)	Military Decoration for gallantry or exceptional devotion
Next (lower)	Military Decoration for faithful Service

The Military Cross (Dutch: Militair Kruis, French: Croix Militaire) is a military long service decoration of Belgium. It was established by Royal Decree on 11 February 1885 and is awarded to commissioned officers in the Belgian Armed Forces for loyal and uninterrupted service or to Non-Belgian military officers for distinguished service in favor of the Military of Belgium.^[1]

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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.

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 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.^[2]

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 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. The first class is awarded to general officers.

Appearance

The Military Cross is a black enamelled Maltese cross 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 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.^[2]

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.^[2]

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 Colonel Dean King - Military Cross Second Class^[3]
Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur - Military Cross First Class (1918)

References

^ "Eretekens - regulation". Belgian Defence Ministry. 2016-08-08. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^ ^a ^b ^c "Royal Decree of 11 February 1885 creating the Military Cross". Belgian Defence Ministry. 1885-02-11. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^ "Colonel Dean King receives a medal by the Chief and Secretary of Defence" (in Dutch). Belgian Defence. 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2018-08-27.

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military Cross (Belgium).

Belgian Military Cross at Northeastmedals
Bibliothèque royale de Belgique (In French)
Les Ordres Nationaux Belges (In French)
ARS MORIENDI Notables from Belgian history Archived 2011-09-06 at the Wayback Machine (In French and Dutch)
[1]

v t e Orders, decorations, and medals of Belgium
National orders	Order of Leopold Order of the African Star Royal Order of the Lion Order of the Crown Order of Leopold II
Pre–1914	Civic Guard Merit Medal 1830 Star of Honour Iron Cross 1830 Volunteers' Commemorative Cross 1870–71 Commemorative Medal Service Star
World War I	War Cross 1914–18 Fire Cross 1914–1918 Yser Cross and Medal Volunteer Combatant's Medal 1914–1918 Commemorative Medal of the 1914–1918 War Commemorative Medal of the 1914–1917 African Campaigns Liège Medal Maritime Decoration 1914–1918 Political Prisoner's Medal 1914–1918 Deportees' Cross 1914–1918 1914–1918 Medal for National Restoration King Albert Medal Queen Elisabeth Medal Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1914–1918 Civic Decoration 1914–1918 Commemorative Medal of the National Committee for Aid and Food
World War II & Korean War	War Cross 1940–45 Maritime Medal 1940–1945 1940–1945 Military Combatant's Medal Volunteer's Medal 1940–1945 1940–1945 African War Medal 1940–1945 Colonial War Effort Medal Abyssinian Campaigns Commemorative Medal Resistance Medal 1940–1945 Civilian Resistance Medal Civilian Disobedience Medal Political Prisoner's Cross 1940–1945 Prisoner of War Medal 1940–1945 Escapees' Cross 1940–1945 Medal for Resistance against Nazism in the Annexed Territories Medal of the Recruiting Centers 1940 Medal of Belgian Gratitude 1940–1945 Commemorative Medal of the 1940–1945 War Foreign Operational Theatres Commemorative Medal
Current military awards	Military Decoration for exceptional service, bravery or exceptional devotion Military Cross Military Decoration for faithful service Cross of Honour for Military Service Abroad Commemorative Medal for Armed Humanitarian Operations Commemorative Medal for Foreign Operations or Missions Commemorative medal for missions or operations regarding the operational defense of the territory Meritorious Service Medal
Current civilian awards	Civil decoration for acts of bravery, selfsacrifice and philanthropy Civil decoration for faithful service Labour Decoration Laureate of labour
Commemorative medals	Commemorative Decoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Creation of the Railroads Commemorative Medal of the Reign of King Leopold II Commemorative Medal for the 75th Anniversary of the Belgian Postal Service Centenary of National Independence Commemorative Medal Commemorative Medal for the Centenary of the Telegraphic Service Commemorative Medal for the 100th Anniversary of the Belgian Postal Service Commemorative Medal of the Reign of King Albert I Commemorative Medal for the "European March of Memory and Friendship" "Four Days of the Yser" Commemorative Medal
Belgian Red Cross	Order of the Belgian Red Cross Blood Donour's Medal 1940–1945 Cross of Honour of the Belgian Red Cross 1940–1945 Belgian Red Cross Decoration
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