The Cross of Valor (or Αριστείον Ανδρείας, Aristeion Andreias, “Gallantry/Bravery Award“) is the second highest military decoration of the Greek state, awarded for acts of bravery or distinguished leadership on the field of battle.
It has been instituted three times, first on 13 May 1913 during the Balkan Wars but not issued until 1921 during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, then on 11 November 1940 shortly after the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War and finally in 1974.
The award was liberally distributed during the campaigns of 1921–1922: from the first awards in July 1921 to the end of the war in August 1922. The Cross of Valor continued to be awarded for actions during the Greek Civil War and for the Greek participation in the Korean War, as well as for a few cases from World War II, from 1947 to 1955.
The Royal Decree of 31 March 1921 instituted the Cross of Valor in three grades: Commander’s Cross (Σταυρός Ταξιάρχη), worn as a badge on a necklet, and the Gold Cross (Χρυσούς Σταυρός) and Silver Cross (Αργυρός Σταυρός), worn as badges on chest ribbons. No limit was set on the number of awards in each grade.
The Cross of Valor Design
The design of the badge was specified as a “crowned cross, bearing in the middle of the obverse side, in a circle of narrow laurel leaves, the image of St. Demetrios, while on the middle of the reverse side in a similar circle it bears the words ΑΞΙᾼ (“for valor” in Greek)”.
The Silver Cross was to be made entirely of silver, while the Gold and Commander’s crosses were enameled in white with blue edges. The ribbon consists of five pale blue and white stripes. For each repeat award, a silver 4-millimeter star was added to the ribbon.
For World War II awards, a bar with “1940” was placed on the ribbon to distinguish it from the earlier 1913 version.
