My absolute hero is Maj. Gen. Robert T. Frederick.

Winston Churchill called him "the greatest fighting general of all time" and said: "if we had had a dozen more like him we would have smashed Hitler in 1942".

If his life was made into a movie, people wouldn't believe that a lot of it happened.

Prior to the war he had warned that the air defenses around Pearl Harbor were woefully insufficient. He was not happy to be proven right.

He was tasked with setting up the First Special Service Force (The Devil's Brigade), a joint Canadian-American unit which became a major inspiration for all subsequent special forces. As part of setting up the unit he was required to become qualified as a paratrooper. In the hustle and bustle of setting up the unit he had forgotten to do his jump so, the day before the men were to arrive for selection and training, he did his first jump in his dress uniform and dress shoes - he was too busy to get changed.

While camped for the night during the Italian campaign, some soldiers realized that Frederick, their commander, was missing. People were understandably upset. After a while a German vehicle approached their encampment. Inside was Frederick and a few German officers he had taken as prisoner while he was out scouting by himself. He had caught them unawares, held them at gunpoint and made them drive him back to the camp.

He was one of the youngest American generals ever, and one of the most highly decorated. He received the Distinguished Service Cross twice, for actions only 6 months apart. He was wounded multiple times (including two wounds on the same day) and, in all, received 8 Purple Hearts.

In December of 1944 he became the youngest divisional commander in Europe (at 37).

After the war, he was in command of the US sector of Vienna. On one occasion, after an American soldier had been abducted by the Soviets, he drove a squad of three M-8s (armored cars with 37mm cannons) to the Soviet headquarters and said to the sentries, "Tell your General Abokomov, I will wait twenty minutes for him to deliver the imprisoned American to me before I start firing." He scared the shit out of both the Russians and the US State department. No other American was snatched while he was in Austria. One veteran later said, "the Soviets were terrified of our commander."

I really recommend his biography, The Last Fighting General: The Biography of Robert Tryon Frederick by Anne Hicks. There are so many stories in there that show that he was one of the greatest military officers of all time and one of the most interesting people to ever live.