Major Marinus Johannes "Marco" Kroon, RMWO (born 15 July 1970), is a Dutch officer serving with the Korps Commandotroepen.

[1][2] The Military William Order is the highest honour in the Netherlands, bestowed for "performing excellent acts of Bravery, Leadership and Loyalty in battle".

After this mission in Cambodia he transferred to the Army where he started training for a position as an NCO at the Koninklijke Militaire School in Weert.

After graduation he returned to his unit, the 17th Armoured Infantry Battalion, and left for Bosnia for the third time, now as platoon commander, in the Stabilization Force (SFOR) mission.

After that Kroon became a staff officer at the intelligence centre of the special forces, training other commandos, testing equipment and tactical procedures.

Based in Gao, in a staff function as a planner for the 105th Commando Troop Compagny, his job will be mainly planning long range reconnaissance missions.

[1] In this period he distinguished himself by exceptional deeds during six extremely dangerous actions which broke out during ISAF patrols by "Viper" and a platoon of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment.

[8] These actions and his general behaviour as a leader were the reason both his subordinates and his superiors nominated Kroon for bestowal of the Military Order.

The Ministry of Defence, after three years' research, recommended to Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands that Kroon be awarded the Military William Order for bravery shown during commando actions in Uruzgan.

[9] Queen Beatrix made Kroon a Knight (fourth class) of the Military William Order on 29 May 2009: the first time in 54 years that the honour had been given to an individual.

[11] Kroon stated that he had killed an enemy, who during an earlier secret operation, had captured him and had subjected him to brutal interrogations, mistreatment and humiliation.

[31][32][33][34][35] According to two sources, the Dutch Ministry of Defence was aware of the alleged reputation of Kroon's pub before he received his award for bravery in Afghanistan.

[38] The publications on the suspicion of Kroon not only led to comments on the legitimacy of his award and speculations as to his professional position, but also to criticism directed at the mentioning of his full name by the press, which is uncommon in The Netherlands in crime reporting as it is considered to be an infringement of a suspect's personal privacy, related to the presumption of innocence.

[42] On 20 September 2010, the Office of the Attorney General officially announced that Kroon would be prosecuted and was suspected of 'possession and provision of some (in the Netherlands illegal) electroshock weapons and possession of small quantities of hard drugs for personal use'.

[47] Kroon was sentenced a EUR 750 fine and a conditional 80 hours of community service for possession and provision of electroshock weapons.

[48][49] Kroon will not be dismissed from the military (this would be the case if he had been convicted for using hard drugs; the Dutch Ministry of Defence has a strict no-drugs policy).

[54] Immediately after the legal procedure ending the Dutch Ministry of Defence announced they will consult Kroon in the near future regarding his career wishes and possibilities.