The army and army air force awards were all for actions in Operation Market Garden (drama- tized in the movie A Bridge Too Far~ during the liberation of the Netherlands. This was the largest airborne operation of World War II, and involved the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, the British 1st Airborne Division, and the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade. The three naval awards were all for operations in defense of the Dutch East Indies in 1942. Dutch reference sources usually summarize the individual awards of the Fourth Class of the MWO to Americans as 12 to the 82nd Airbornd Division, 3 to the 101 st Airborne Division, 4 to the Army Air Force, and 3 to the Navy, but this appears to be slightly off. A check of the individ- ual citations seems to indicate that the actual breakdown of the army awards is 11 to the 82nd Airborne Division and 4 to the 101st. Ten of the individual awards to the 82nd Airborne Division were made by Royal Decree Num- ber 31 of 8 October 1945. The citations with this decree all specifically stated that the recipi- ents were attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. The award to Colonel Reuben H. Tucker, the citation of which also specified that he was with the 82nd Airborne Division was, like the other ten 82nd Airborne Division awards, for action in the Nijmegen area during September and Oc- tober 1944. The only MWO citations to U.S. Army personnel that have absolutely no unit iden- tification in them are those to Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Chase and Colonel Harry W. O. Kinnard. Additional research, however, indicates that Colonel Kinnard commanded a battalion in the 101st Airborne Division. (Note 7) Also, both of these awards werre made by Royal De- cree Number 35 of 14 November 1946, which was the Decree by which the other two awards to officers of the 101st Airborne Division were made. Finally, Colonel Chase’s award citation specified that the conferment was for action between Veghel and Uden, which was in the 101st Airborne’s area of operations, and some 20 kilometers southwest of any unts of the 82nd. Thus, it would appear that he was in fact assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. By Royal Decree Number 30 of 8 October 1945, the Divisional Color of the 82nd Airborne Divi- sion was decorated with the Fourth Class of the Military Order of William. This award was made in recognition of the Division’s service at Nijmegen from 17 September to 4 October 1944. There is still one final award of the MWO to an American that must be accounted for. By Royal Decree Number 36 of 15 April 1948, a posthumous award of the Grand Cross was made to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On 24 April 1990, there was a gathering in the Hague to celebrate the Order’s 175th anniver- sary, to which all 63 surviving Knights of the Military Order of William were invited. (Note 8) At that time, there were 4 American recipients still living: Steve A. Chappuis, Julian A. Cook, Ed- ward S. Fulmer, and Harry W. O. Kinnard. All of the American Knights except Julian Cook were able to attend. According to a letter from Mrs. Jos Mulder-Gemmeke (Note 9), President of the Royal Society of Knights of the Military Order of William (Koningiijke Vereniging v~n Ridders der M!/itaire Willems-Orde), as of 28 December 1992, Messers Chappuis, Fulmer, and Kinnard are still alive. The Society has not heard from Julian Cook since 1990. Loosely attached to the Order is the Orange Lanyard (het Oran!e Ere Ko0rd or Oran!e Fluit- k00rd. (Note 10) I have seen it referred to as both in Dutch sources). This is a plain single orange cord with a loop at each end and a brass swivel fastened in one of the loops. The lan- yard is worn by looping it over the left shoulder and placing the swivel in the left breast pocket. U.S. Army regulations call for a cord 1/4-inch (about 6.4ram) in diameter and 33-inches (about 838mm) long to be worn by U.S. personnel entitled to wear this recognintion, but Dutch sources indicate that the cord is 5mm in diameter and 900ram long. An individual who is either assigned or permanently attached ~nd ~resent for d~y with a unit during the action for which the Orange Lanyard was awarded may wear it as a permanent part of his uniform, even if sub- sequently reassigned to another unit. It is NOT authorized for temporary wear by personnel later assigned to a cited unit. The Orange Lanyard is normally awarded to any unit that receives the Fourth Class of the Mili- tary Order of William. The award is not automatic, however, but must be specifically conferred on the unit by order of the Minister of War. It may also be awarded independently. Three American units have been awarded the Orange Lanyard. The 82nd Airborne Division received it by order of the Minister of War on 8 October 1945 (Sec. X 25), the same day that it was awarded the MWO. On 20 September 1946, the Orange Lanyard was awarded to the 101 st Airborne Division (Sec. P 203). Finally, a retroactive award of the Orange Lanyard was made on 20 April 1982 to the glider pilots of the IXth Army Air Force Troop Carrier Command for their part in getting the two cited divisions into combat. According to one Dutch source, the awarding of the Orange Lanyard to the two American divisions was a mistake, since it is an insigne rather than a decoration. The United States Army has established its own streamers to represent these awards on unit flags. Army Awards Re~ulation~ provide for a yellow streamer with two 11/32-inch blue stripes, one-and-a-quarter-inches apart, to represent a unit award of the MWO and an orange streanl- er to represent an award of the Orange Lanyard. Both streamers are two-and-three-quarter- inches wide, three feet long, and have blue lettering. The lettering indicates the action for which the award was made. Also attached to the MWO were the Sword of Honor (d~ Eresabel) and the Honorable Mention (de Eervolle Vermelding), both now obsolete, but as neither of these were ever awarded to an American, their story will have to wait for another article. (Notes 11 and 12) There are a number of people I must thank for their assistance in helping me research this arti- cle. They are OMSA members C. Peter Mulder and Paul H. Till, Werner W. G. Sterubaut, Cura- tor of the Museum of the Chancery of the Dutch Orders at Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn, and Mrs. P. H. Th. Dumon, Secretary of the Dutch Society for the Study of Military History (Neder- landse Vereniginq ter Geoefening van de Militaire Histori~. Thanks are also due to Albert Gleim, past Editor of JOMSA, for having sent me a copy of the correspondence from the Assis- tant to the Military Attache, United States Embassy, the Hague, to the Adjutant General’s Of- rice, listing all U.S. Army recipients of Dutch awards for service during World War Two, as of 12 February 1946. It was my receipt of this list that gave me the interest in completing it in so far as MWO recipients were concerned, and so Colonel G~eim may be regarded as the "godfather" of this article. NOTES The Grand Order of the Union (Grote Orde van de Unie) (Grand Cross only) and the Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Holland (Orde van Verdienste van het Koninkri!k Holland) (de- grees of Commander and Knight) were both established by King Louis Napoleon on 11 December 1806. No insignia of the former and apparently only a few knight’s badges of the latter were ever made before they were combined into the Royal Order of Holland (Koninklijke Orde van Holland) (Grand Cross, Commander and Knight) on 14 February 1807. This Ot’der, on 6 February 1808, became the Order of the Union (Orde van de Unie), with new insignia. The Kingdom of Holland was annexed by France on 9 July 1810, and its recipients could now receive the Legion of Honor. Additionally, the Order of the Reunion was established as an Imperial French Order in three classes on 18 October 1811. Established on 18 July 1808, the Gold Medal for Excellent Bravery of the Kingdom of Hol- land (Go~den Medaille v0or Uitmuntende Da~perheid van het Koninkri!k Holland~ was only awarded six times. The Silver Medal for Bravery of the Kingdom of Holland (Zilveren Medaille vo0r Dapperheld van he~ K0ninkrijk Holland), established the same day, was only awarded to thirteen individuals. The firesteel and the green ("wooden") Burgundy cross are both symbolic of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Orde van het Gulden Vlies), established by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy in 1429. The "Seventeen Nederlands", most of which had passed to the Habsburgs as part of the Burgundian Inheritance, had been united and given autonomy by Charles V. in 1548, and the boundaries of Wil~em’s 1815 Kingdom of the Netherlands were almost the same as this domain. There is some evidence that Willem wanted to restore the old Burgundian Kingdom centered on the territories he ruled, and that he also wanted to restore the Order of the Golden Fleece in the Netherlands with hemself as the Grand Master, but for political reasons these were both impossibilities.