| Pro Merito Medal (1967) | |
| Presenter: | the State President |
| Country: |  South Africa |
| Type: | Military decoration for merit |
| Eligibility: | Other ranks |
| Awarded For: | Outstanding devotion to duty |
| Status: | Discontinued in 1975 |
| Post-Nominals: | PMM |
| Established: | 1967 |
| Firstawarded: | 1968 |
| Lastawarded: | 1975 |
| Total Awarded: | 374 |
| Precedence Label: | SADF pre-1994 & SANDF post-2002 orders of wear |
| Higher: | |
| Lower: | |
The Pro Merito Medal of 1967, post-nominal letters PMM, is a military decoration which was instituted by the Republic of South Africa in 1967. It was awarded to other ranks of the South African Defence Force for outstanding devotion to duty and was the non-commissioned officers' version of the Southern Cross Medal of 1952 (SM), which had earlier been available to all ranks.[1]
The Union Defence Forces (UDF) were established in 1912 and renamed the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1958. On 27 April 1994, it was integrated with six other independent forces into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).[2] [3] [4]
The Pro Merito Medal of 1967, post-nominal letters PMM, was instituted by the State President on 6 June 1967, as an other ranks' version of the Southern Cross Medal of 1952 (SM), the award of which became restricted to officers with effect from that date.[1] [2] [5]
The medal could be awarded to other ranks of the South African Defence Force for outstanding devotion to duty. Prior to the institution of the Pro Merito Medal, other ranks had been eligible for the award of the Southern Cross Medal.[2] [5]
The position of the Pro Merito Medal of 1967 in the official order of precedence was revised three times after 1975, to accommodate the inclusion or institution of new decorations and medals, first upon the integration into the South African National Defence Force on 27 April 1994, again when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted in April 1996 for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and again when a new series of military orders, decorations and medals was instituted in South Africa on 27 April 2003. The position of the Pro Merito Medal of 1967 remained unchanged, as it was on 27 April 1994, upon the latter two occasions
The new ribbon was 32 millimetres wide and sky blue, divided in the centre by five bands of orange, white, dark blue, white and orange, the dark blue band 3 millimetres wide and the other four all 1½ millimetres wide.
Conferment of the decoration was discontinued in respect of services performed on or after 1 July 1975, when the Pro Merito Medal (1975) was instituted to replace it.[3]