Germany has presented the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen with one of its highest medals of honour. The Defence Ministry says President Christian Wulff has awarded the Grand Cross of Merit with Star to Mullen for ``his personal contribution for German soldiers on missions' and for his efforts to strengthen the German-American friendship.
German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere presented the medal to Mullen in Berlin on Thursday. Mullen is to retire as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when his term ends September 30, and General Martin Dempsey, a respected veteran commander in the Iraq war, will take that job as the US president's top military adviser.