Veterans ISAF-mission recognized with special medal

ARNHEM – Another 1,500 ISAF-mission veterans were recently presented with a medal for having served in southern Afghanistan. A delegation of parliamentarians assisted armed forces General Peter van Uhm and Junior Defense minister Frans Timmermans at the ceremony, which was also attended by wheelchair-bound survivors of roadside bomb explosions and accidents. Nineteen Dutch soldiers have been returned home for burial, including a son of General van Uhm. Dutch participation in the Afghanistan mission is the largest foreign effort in recent decades and has pushed the Netherlands to develop a more comprehensive policy for veteran affairs. Veterans of the late 1940’s campaigns in the former Dutch East Indies fought for years for formal recognition. Hostilities in the colony claimed the lives of over 5,000 soldiers, all listed in the book “Het Laatste Bericht.”