The Eervolle Vermelding — the Honorable Mention — was a Dutch colonial military decoration, worn with pride in the negorij or kampong of the Ambonese and Menadonese soldiers. The decoration was also known as the Kroontje — the “Little Crown” — and was, in the colonial army’s decoration economy, the recognition that came before the M.W.O. and the Medaille voor Moed en Trouw.
The Kroontje
“Dragers van de Medaille voor Moed en Trouw en van het Kroontje (de Eervolle Vermelding)” — the Kroontje is the Eervolle Vermelding. The “Little Crown” — the small crown emblem worn on the ribbon of a decoration — was the visible sign of the Honorable Mention. The Kroontje was therefore both the decoration itself (the Honorable Mention) and its visible emblem (the little crown on the ribbon).
The decoration economy
The Eervolle Vermelding was, in the colonial army’s decoration economy, the recognition that came before the M.W.O. and the Medaille voor Moed en Trouw. The book’s example is Salawono, who at the Marechaussee korps had “een Eervolle Vermelding en de Medaille voor Moed en Trouw verdiend” — an Honorable Mention and the Medal for Courage and Loyalty — before earning his M.W.O. 4e klas at the storming of Limboer and his M.W.O. 3e klas on Celebes. The Eervolle Vermelding was therefore the first step in the decoration career of the colonial soldaat.
The trots of the negorij
“Ridders M.W.O., dragers van de Medaille voor Moed en Trouw en van het Kroontje (de Eervolle Vermelding), waren de trots van hun kampong of negorij.” The Eervolle Vermelding — like the M.W.O. and the Medaille voor Moed en Trouw — was the pride of the soldier’s home community. The negorij tracked the soldier’s wedervaren through the gehele Archipel, and his decoration was worn at the Koninginnedag rondgang.
Significance
The Eervolle Vermelding is significant in Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L. as the first step in the decoration career of the colonial soldaat. The book’s argument is that the Eervolle Vermelding — like the M.W.O. and the Medaille voor Moed en Trouw — was the pride of the soldier’s home community, and that the negorij’s tracking of the soldier’s wedervaren was the mechanism by which the decoration economy of the colonial army was tied to the home community. The Eervolle Vermelding is therefore the book’s marker of the first step in the decoration career that culminated, for Salawono, in the M.W.O. 3e klas and the slippendragers at the funeral of Dominee Thenu.
See Also
- Militaire Willemsorde (M.W.O.)
- Medaille voor Moed en Trouw
- Kroontje (Eervolle Vermelding)
- Salawono
- Negorij
- kamponggemeenschap
- Koninginnedag
- Storming of Limboer (22 June 1903)
Source
Oom Ambon van het K.N.I.L., by G. W. T. Dames, Maj. Inf. K.N.I.L. b.d. (‘s-Gravenhage: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1954), chapter “Van recruut tot pensioen” and chapter “Leve het Zesde Bataljon!”