War hero - Definition and Overview

This list of notable war heroes does not make judgements about what constitutes "true" heroism, but rather acknowledges the fact that the term is normally used to designate anyone serving a miltary role in time of hostilities, who is treated as an outstanding example of honorable service by their chain of command, and especially by their comrades in arms and that portion of the populace of their state (and allied states) that identifies with the state's war aims. In particular, being free of guilt as a war criminal, or as a traitor, is in no sense implied by inclusion here.

A-F

• Alexander the Great
• Barak, Ehud (born February 12th, 1942) ; General (Rav Aluf in Hebrew),Israel, Israeli Defence Forces; Sayeret Matkal commander and later chief of general staff. Barak was awarded the "Distinguished Service Medal" and four other citations for courage and operational excellence.
• Arnold, Benedict
• Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart V.C., one of the bravest of the brave, in Boer war, Somaliland War, W.W.I, W. W. II
• Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius (519?-438 BCE), dictator rei gerendae causa (commander in chief), Roman Republic, campaign against Aequi, 458 BCE, resolved crisis with them and Volsci by defeating them in 16 days (but noted especially for immediately retiring rather than seeking to continue to rule); golden wreath
• Dayan, Moshe, (1915 -1981) Israeli military leader and politician
• Decatur, Stephen (1779 January 5 - 1820 March 22) , lt. U.S. Navy; harbor of Tripoli, First Barbary War, February 16, 1804, burning of the captured USS Philadelphia
• Eisenhower, Dwight gen. then General of the Army, U.S. Army, SHAEF; WW II, Western Front of invasion of Germany, December 1943 - May 1945

G-L

• Gaius Marius, Roman general
• George Walker (1645-1690), Defender of Derry was a National hero of his time
• Gibson, Guy (1918-1944), wing commander, UK RAF 617 Squadron; Operation Chastise, WW II, 1943, destruction of two large dams in Ruhr area; Victoria Cross
• Hannibal, Carthaginian general (Second Punic War)
• Hayes, Ira, (1923-1955), U.S. Pima World War II hero
• Horatius Cocles, Roman, Etruscan wars
• Julius Caesar, Roman dictator
• Khaled ibn AL Waleed, Moslem Army Commander,(Never lost a single battle), he defeated a 250.000 byzentine army with 60.000 arabs
• Jellicoe, John,(1859-1935), admiral, UK Royal Navy Grand Fleet; Battle of Jutland, WW I, 31 May - 1 June 1916, Battle of Jutland, prevented emergence of German High Seas Fleet
• Lawrence, T. E. (1888-1935), col., UK army detached service as liaison officer and guerrilla commander with Arab rebels against Ottoman Empire; Arab Revolt, WW II, 1916-1918, tying up of Ottoman troops and capture of Aqaba; Distinguished Service Order (and recommendation for Victoria Cross), 1917

M-Z

• Manstein, Erich von (1887-1973), notable German Generalfeldmarschall
• Moltke, Helmuth von, Prussian Generalfeldmarschall, hero of the Franco-Prussian war
• Murphy, Audie, American, most decorated American soldier of World War II
• Netanyahu, Jonathan (March 13, 1946 - July 4, 1976) ; Israel, Israeli Defence Forces, colonel; Sayeret Matkal commando fighter, fell in Operation Entebbe in which the Israeli security forces rescued hostages after an aircraft was hijacked to Uganda. Awarded with Medal of Distinguished Service for his conduct in Yom Kippur War.
• Peled, Moshe ( ); Major General, Israel, Israeli Defence Forces; was an armored-division commander the Golan Heights during Yom Kippur War; stopped the Syrian assult and in counter-attack managed to destroy about 900 Syrian tanks and pull back the Syrians forces out of the Golan.
• Prince, Tommy (1915 October 25 - 1977 November 25); sgt. Canadian Army (joint force under US Army command) 1^st Special Service Force; Operation Shingle, Anzio invasion, WW II, 1944 February 8, repaired, in disguise, his own reconnaissance phone line, behind German lines and in their sight; UK Military Medal (personally presented by King George VI), 1944, & US Silver Star; most decorated aboriginal soldier in WW II
• Richthofen, Manfred Baron von (1892-1918), German pilot during the first world war
• Rommel, Erwin (1891 November 15 - 1944 October 14); gen., then field marshal, German Wehrmacht Africa Corps; rebuilding of Axis forces in Libya, WW II, 1941-1942; granted suicide, despite charge of high treason (based partly on suspicion of his involvement in unsuccessful July 20 Plot assassination attack on his commander-in-chief), 1944
• Roosevelt Jr., Theodore Brigadier General in the US Army. The only general officer to land in the first wave on D-day,June 6, 1944. He is credited with an on-the-spot alteration of plans at Utah Beach, when the landing took place some 3 km off course. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.
• Rundstedt, Gerd von, German Field Marshal and one of the best generals of Germany during the second world war.
• Sharon, Ariel (born February 27, 1928); Major general (aluf in Hebrew), Israel, Israeli Defence Forces; was an armored division commander in the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War; At Yom Kippur War, October 1973, he held off the Egyptian attack, surrounded the Third Egyptian army and breached through the Suez Canal.
• Tal, Israel (born ); Major General, Israel, Israeli Defence Forces; was an armored-division commander in Sinai in the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War; the developer of the Merkava Tank.
• York, Alvin (1887-1964); cpl., U.S. Army 82^nd Infantry Division; World War I, Meuse River-Argonne Forest, 1918, led charge on active machine-gun nest that outnumbered them 19:1 and captured 132 enemy (by surrounding them?), Congressional Medal of Honor, 1919
• George Washington

See Also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients for a partial list of US Medal of Honor winners.
• Victoria Cross for lists of recipients of this Commonwealth award for gallantry