Legion of Merit (Rhodesia)

The Legion of Merit was a Rhodesian order of merit awarded to both civilian and military recipients for service to Rhodesia.

Order of the Legion of Merit
Legion Of Merit (civil division) Legion Of Merit (military division)
Type	order
Awarded for	outstanding service to Rhodesia
Presented by	Rhodesia  Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
Eligibility	civilians and military personnel
Post-nominals	Dependent on grade
Status	defunct
Established	4 November 1970
First awarded	1970
Last awarded	April 1981
Ribbon bar of the civil order Ribbon bar of the military order
Precedence
Next (higher)	Conspicuous Gallantry Decoration
Next (lower)	Independence Decoration

Institution

The award was instituted in 1970 by Presidential Warrant, the first awards being made the same year. The last awards were made in June 1980. The civil class was suspended from a green and gold ribbon. The military class differed by featuring a red stripe on the green and gold ribbon.

Classes

There were five classes of the order:

• Grand Commander (GCLM)
• Grand Officer (GLM)
• Commander (CLM)
• Officer (OLM)
• Member (MLM)

The incumbent President of Rhodesia served as Grand Master of the Legion of Merit. Recipients of the order were entitled to the post-nominal letters indicated above. It was retained by the government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia as well, the President of that state also serving as Grand Master.

Zimbabwe

The Legion of Merit was superseded in April 1981^[1] by the Zimbabwe Order of Merit, which is awarded to civilians as well as military personnel for eminent achievement and services to Zimbabwe.

Notable recipients

While the higher grades of the order were used almost exclusively by Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front government to reward political service, recipients of the lower and middle grades included a number of notable military leaders, community leaders and civil servants.

Grand Commanders

There were only 5 GCLMs:

Recipient	Office	Note(s)
Ian Smith	Prime Minister of Rhodesia
Clifford Dupont	President of Rhodesia	Automatically awarded GCLM on retirement from office.
John Wrathall	President of Rhodesia	Automatically awarded GCLM on retirement from office.
Gerald Clarke	Principal Secretary to the Cabinet of Rhodesia
Josiah Gumede	President of Zimbabwe Rhodesia	Automatically awarded GCLM on retirement from office.

No GCLMs were ever awarded in the Military Division.

Grand Officers

There were 28 GLMs (Civil Division):

Recipient	Office
Civil Division
S. E. Morris	Chief Native Commissioner, Senator
W. H. H. Nicolle	Secretary for Internal Affairs
Rubidge Stumbles	Speaker of the House
N. H. B. Bruce	Governor of the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia
Jack Howman	Minister of Defence, Minister of Information, Minister of Tourism
Leo Cardwell Ross	Secretary for Information, Immigration and Tourism
Lance Smith	Minister
D. W. Young	Secretary to the Treasury;
Desmond Lardner-Burke	Minister of Justice, Minister of Law and Order;
Douglas Lilford	Founder and Vice President, Rhodesian Front
E. A. T. Smith	Secretary for Justice
T. A. T. Bosman	Attorney General of Rhodesia
Harold Hawkins	Commander of the Rhodesian Air Force, Ambassador to South Africa
Roger Hawkins	Minister
B. H. Mussett	Minister of Transport
C. N. Whetmore	Secretary
J. F. Gaylard	Secretary
A. P. Smith	Minister
David Smith	Minister of Finance
P. K. van der Byl	Minister of Defence
P. D. W. R. Sherren	Commissioner of Police
N. H. B. Cambitizis	Rhodesia Front
George Holland Hartley	Speaker of the House
Mark Partridge	Minister for Natural Resources
Jack William Pithey	Acting President of Rhodesia, President of the Senate, Secretary of Justice
Henry Everard	Acting President of Rhodesia
W. M. Irvine	Minister of Transport and Power
Ken Flower	Head of the Central Intelligence Organisation
Military Division
Lt. Gen. Peter Walls	Head of the Rhodesian Security Forces

Commanders

There were 32 CLMs (Civil Division) and 4 CLMs (Military Division).

Recipient	Office	Note(s)
Civil Division
Janet Smith	-	Wife of Prime Minister Ian Smith
Military Division
Col. Ronald Reid-Daly	Commanding officer of the Selous Scouts

Others

There were 126 OLMs (Civil Division).

There were 35 OLMs (Military Division) and 10 OLMs (Military Division) (Combatant).

There were 300 MLMs (Civil Division), 55 MLMs (Military Division) and 10 MLMs (Military Division) (Combatant).

References

1. Zimbabwe Government Statutory Instrument No. 197A of 1981, 17 April 1981.

External links

• Orders, Medals and Decorations of Zimbabwe and Rhodesia
• Image on medals.org.uk