bobdina
07-17-2009, 02:47 PM
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made history as she presented her nation's first heroism award to soldiers since the Iron Cross was outlawed at the end of World War II.
The four soldiers were awarded the Honour Cross – a medal struck only last year after much hand-wringing and soul searching in a country still deeply pacifist after the wars of the last century.
They received their medals for 'selfless courage' shown in Afghanistan last year. They did not fire any shots but rescued badly injured comrades near Kunduz after a suicide bombing on October 20 .Two parachute regiment soldiers aged 22 and 25 were killed in the blast. The soldiers who rescued their comrades showed 'selfless courage in the face of great danger,' they heard when they were presented with the medals at the chancellery in Berlin.
Ammunition was exploding all around them as they tended to the wounded amid the carnage after an armoured vehicle was blown up. The blast also claimed the lives of five Afghan children. The soldiers are Sergeant Majors Jan Berges, 29, Henry Lukas, 29, Alexander Dietzen, 33, and Sergeant Markus Geist, 29.
Mrs. Merkel told them: 'You displayed great personal courage and comradeship. Germany thanks you for your bravery.'
The Commissioner for the Armed Forces of the Bundestag, Reinhold Robbe, said; 'Virtues such as comradeship, loyalty, courage and bravery are central to, and have a new meaning for, the German Federal Armed Forces soldiers in recent years.'
The award of the medals is a landmark event for the German military.
The government for long sought to find a suitable replacement for the Iron Cross, which was first handed out by King Frederick III of Prussia in 1813, and finally to boys of the Hitler Youth fighting in the ruins of Berlin in 1945.
The Honour Cross was finally ordered by Defence Secretary Josef Jung as Germany’s hitherto homebound Bundeswehr has taken on more and more overseas duties in war zones in recent years – Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan among them.
Previously there was no medal available to reward exemplary courage and – with the taboo of the Third Reich making a return of the Iron Cross impossible – the Cross of Honour was struck for those whose 'bravery goes far beyond the expected measure of service'.
The four soldiers were awarded the Honour Cross – a medal struck only last year after much hand-wringing and soul searching in a country still deeply pacifist after the wars of the last century.
They received their medals for 'selfless courage' shown in Afghanistan last year. They did not fire any shots but rescued badly injured comrades near Kunduz after a suicide bombing on October 20 .Two parachute regiment soldiers aged 22 and 25 were killed in the blast. The soldiers who rescued their comrades showed 'selfless courage in the face of great danger,' they heard when they were presented with the medals at the chancellery in Berlin.
Ammunition was exploding all around them as they tended to the wounded amid the carnage after an armoured vehicle was blown up. The blast also claimed the lives of five Afghan children. The soldiers are Sergeant Majors Jan Berges, 29, Henry Lukas, 29, Alexander Dietzen, 33, and Sergeant Markus Geist, 29.
Mrs. Merkel told them: 'You displayed great personal courage and comradeship. Germany thanks you for your bravery.'
The Commissioner for the Armed Forces of the Bundestag, Reinhold Robbe, said; 'Virtues such as comradeship, loyalty, courage and bravery are central to, and have a new meaning for, the German Federal Armed Forces soldiers in recent years.'
The award of the medals is a landmark event for the German military.
The government for long sought to find a suitable replacement for the Iron Cross, which was first handed out by King Frederick III of Prussia in 1813, and finally to boys of the Hitler Youth fighting in the ruins of Berlin in 1945.
The Honour Cross was finally ordered by Defence Secretary Josef Jung as Germany’s hitherto homebound Bundeswehr has taken on more and more overseas duties in war zones in recent years – Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan among them.
Previously there was no medal available to reward exemplary courage and – with the taboo of the Third Reich making a return of the Iron Cross impossible – the Cross of Honour was struck for those whose 'bravery goes far beyond the expected measure of service'.