Willem den Toom

His Excellency

Willem den Toom
His Excellency Willem den Toom
	Den Toom in 1968
Minister of Defence
	In office; 5 April 1967 – 6 July 1971
Prime Minister	Piet de Jong
Preceded by	Piet de Jong
Succeeded by	Hans de Koster
State Secretary for Defence
	In office; 25 November 1963 – 14 April 1965 Serving with Joop Haex ; Adri van Es
Prime Minister	Victor Marijnen
Preceded by	Michael Calmeyer
Succeeded by	Jan Borghouts
Personal details
Born	Willem den Toom; (1911-07-11)11 July 1911; Rotterdam, Netherlands
Died	13 December 1998(1998-12-13) (aged 87); Amersfoort, Netherlands
Party	People's Party for ; Freedom and Democracy ; (from 1963)
Spouse	Mijntje van Toorn (m. 1930; died 1990)
Education	Royal Military Academy
Occupation	Politician · Air Force Officer · Corporate director · Nonprofit director · Author · Editor · Political pundit · Activist · Lobbyist
Military service
Allegiance	Netherlands
Branch/service	Royal Netherlands Army ; (1933–1953) ; Royal Netherlands Air Force ; (1953–1965)
Years of service	1933–1963 (Active duty) ; 1963–1965 (Reserve)
Rank	Lieutenant general
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of the Netherlands; Battle of France; ;

Full article adapted from Wikipedia revision 1369158513 by Wikipedia contributors. Text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Formatting has been adapted; article text and references are retained. Snapshot imported 2026-09-25.

Dutch politician (1911–1998)

Willem den Toom (11 July 1911 – 13 December 1998) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and military officer.

Decorations

Ribbon bar	Decoration	Country	Date	Comment
Military decorations
	War Memorial Cross	Netherlands	5 May 1946
	Mobilisation War Cross	Netherlands	1 June 1945
	Distinction sign for Long-term, Honest and Loyal Service	Netherlands	1 May 1963	Honorable discharge
Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	20 April 1965
	Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	17 July 1971

Political offices
Preceded by Michael Calmeyer	State Secretary for Defence 1963–1965 Served alongside: Joop Haex Adri van Es	Succeeded by Jan Borghouts
Preceded by Piet de Jong	Minister of Defence 1967–1971	Succeeded by Hans de Koster
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Office established	Chairman of the Institute for Peace Issues 1969–1983	Succeeded by Henk Neuman as Chairman of the Clingendael Institute

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