Henk van den Breemen

Who is Henk van den Breemen?

Hendrik Gijsbert Bernhard "Henk" van den Breemen is a retired Dutch military officer.

Van den Breemen started his military career as a Midshipsman for the Marines in 1960. From June 1987 till June 1998 he served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps. As Vice Chief of Defence Staff he was actively involved with the reorganization of the Defence Staff, being responsible for the Defence Priority Papers. Van den Breemen ended his military career as Chief of Defence Staff. Former minister Henk Kamp said that one of the reasons to appoint Van den Breemen as CoD was his role as Commanding Officer of the first Amphibious Combat Group and the development of the Dutch-British “Amphibious Force” which will become a “Battlegroup” between 2006 and 2010.

Van den Breemen was appointed as Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau with Swords and as Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. He is also decorated as Commander in the Legion of Merit and the “Grosse Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”. Sweden, Norway and the Czech Republic also decorated Van den Breemen.