The German Iron Cross in its various grades was awarded to all ranks of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine to recognize officers and men for acts of bravery, heroism and leadership. It was first introduced on March 10, 1813 by King Frederick William III of Prussia, who was then at war against the French under Napolean. Since then it has gone through many evolutions and was reinstitued again by Adolf Hitler on 1st September 1939, in readiness for the Second World War.
The first we know about the Iron Cross, which is mistakenly refered to as a Maltese cross, was when an order of Teutonic Knights adopted it for their sign.
After being used as personal emblems by several Teutonic emporers as an emblem sometime around 1800 or so it was used as a military decoration for extreme valor on the battlefield. Needless to say it went thru a lot of ornamental changes as it went from dynasty to dynasty.
During W W 2, it was last awarded to a German soldier in May 1945, it has not been issued to anyone else because Germany has not been at war since then, and it is only a WARTIME military medal.
When G I's coming back from W W 2 brought home their 'booty" a lot of them brought back Iron Crosses as souveniers.....Now some of these G.I.'s were bikers and some may have been surfers because it was adopted by both groups during the 50's and 60's.....But I'm sure if you asked a biker and a surfer what it meant to them you would get to completely different answers...
Of late variations on the Iron Cross theme have shown up used by Motorcycle builders and anyone else wanting to cash in on Jesse James 15 minutes of fame........
Oh yeah, sidewalk surfers seem to have taken a liking to it too.....You see a lot of skateboards with the iron cross type decorations.....
The leaf of cultivated Oxalis tetraphylla [syn. Oxalis deppei] ‘Iron Cross’
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