Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance

Infobox Military Award
name=Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance


caption=The golden Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance
awarded_by=
type= Civil decoration,
with degrees gold, silver or bronze medal
eligibility=
for= For charitable assistance
status=Currently awarded
description=
clasps=
established=18 June 1822
first_award=Lieutenant Alexander de Langle
last_award= SAR squadron 7 Royal Netherlands Navy
total=
posthumous=
recipients=
individual=
higher=Gold: Dutch Cross of Resistance
Silver and Bronze: Airman's Cross
lower= Gold: Order of the Netherlands Lion
Silver and Bronze: KNMI Medal


caption2=Ribbon bar of the golden honorary medalThe Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance (Dutch: Erepenning voor Menslievend Hulpbetoon) was created at 18 June 1822 and is after the Military William Order the oldest Dutch decoration for bravery. The Honorary Medal is a high ranking award for to those who carried out a voluntary act of bravery or self-sacrifice, with an emphasis on charity.

History of the medal

Lieutenant Alexander de Langle was the first person to by awarded with this medal by saving in 1821 a sergeant who was stuck at the bottom of a well. Although he showed an act of bravery, King William I didn't find the act important enough to award the lieutenant with the important Military William Order, instead a new type of bravery award was created: the Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance.

The first medal was roundish and showed the portrait of King William I. At the reverse side a laurel wreath was portrayed and some space was reserved for an inscription. It was not meant to wear the medal. The size of the medal was related to the value of the metal used: a diameter of 50, 41 or 35 millimeter for subsequently a bronze, silver or golden medal.

In 1825 King William I decided that noble and charitable acts of Dutchmans are awarded by charitable organisations and the acts of foreigners and soldiers by the king himself.

In 1837 King William II decided by royal decree that the size of the golden, silver and bronze medals would be all 50 millimeter. Also his portrait was put on the medals.

Since 1849 the portrait of King William III was shown on the medals and from 1875 a portrait of the older and bold King William III.

When Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont became the queen regent of the Netherlands she decided to put on the medal the portrait of her minor daughter Queen Wilhelmina. In 1897 a new type of medal was created, the medal did get a ribbon to wear and also did get the same shape as the French "Medal of Saint Helena".

Since 1912 the medal has its current shape. The medal is ovally shaped with at the top a stylised royal crown. On the medal a mother with three children is portrayed. The motif is take from the city hall in Bolsward. At the reverse side the words "De koningin aan" (English: The Queen Rewards to) and also some space is reserved for an inscription. The medal is worn with an orange ribbon that has a red band in the middle. The medallion is today still award as gold, silver or bronze.

By decree in 15 April 1952 it was decided that the golden honorary medal has precedence just below the Dutch Cross of Resistance; herewith the golden Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance is one the highest awards in the Netherlands. The silver and bronze honorary medals has lower precedence after the Airman's Cross.

Before or since World War II it was common to award the medal to sailors. During World War II the medal was primarily award by the Dutch government in exile to those British sailors who rescued Dutch victims from drowning by a shipwreck.

After the war the medal was significantly less awarded. In 1982 a soldier of the Royal Netherlands Air Force received a medal and in 2005 two silver medals were awarded to rescuers of the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution.

The medal was last awarded to five members of the Search and Rescue squadron 7 of the Royal Netherlands Navy, this because they saved the life of the captain and coxswain of a Iranian container ship. The medals were awarded on 29 May 2008 by the Dutch Minister of Defence Eimert van Middelkoop.

External links

* [http://www.lintjes.nl/_en/overige_onderscheidingen/dapperheidsonderscheidingen/erepenning_menslievend_hulpbetoon.html The Honorary Medal for Charitable Assistance] - Official site of the Chancellery of the Netherlands Orders (English)