Chief Commanders of the Legion of Merit

Shinzo Abe was a Japanese statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for nearly nine years.

former King of Thailand (1927–2016)

George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first Head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration of 1949.

Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini, which abolished the Iranian monarchy to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1967, he took the title Shahanshah, and held several others, including Aryamehr and Bozorg Arteshtaran. He was the second and last ruling monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty.

Marshal of the Soviet Union (1896-1974)

3rd President of the Republic of Korea

founder and first king of Saudi Arabia (r. 1932–1953)

Prime Minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022

British Army officer (1887–1976)

Soviet and Polish military commander (1896-1968)

king of Norway (1903-1991)

last king of Romania (r. 1927–1930, 1940–1947)

British statesman and naval officer (1900-1979)

Soviet military commander (1897-1973)

Marshal of the Soviet Union (1895-1977)

Soviet military commander

King of Morocco (1909-1961)

British Army general and Viceroy of India

Soviet marshal (1897–1955)

King of Iraq from 4 April 1939 until 1958

Soviet marshal (1897–1968)

Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (1894-1978)

British military commander and field marshal; Governor General of Canada (1891-1969)

Marshal of the Soviet Union (1892-1970)

British World War II Army commander (1884–1981)

Yugoslav general (1893-1946)

Royal Navy officer (1883–1963)

Royal Air Force air marshal and writer (1892-1984)

former Governor-General of Australia (1891-1970)

Royal Air Force World War II air marshal (1890-1967)

Regent and Crown Prince of Iraq (1913–1958)

Soviet marshal of aviation

Royal Navy admiral (1883–1945)

Marshal of France (1888–1967)

Marshal of Poland (1890-1989)

British Army general

Royal Navy admiral (1883-1951)

Italian general

Second Field marshal of the Indian Army (1899-1993)

Australian Army senior commander (1894-1960)

Nepalese politician (1882–1961)

Royal Air Force World War II air marshal (1895-1948)

British Army officer

British commander in the Royal Air Force (1893-1969)

Royal Navy admiral and recipient of the Victoria Cross (1893-1986)

British Army general

British Royal Navy officer (1885-1962)

Italian admiral

British Army general (1888-1971)

French military personnel (1883-1969)

Chief of the Spanish Defence Staff