Major Dick Winters

In the series Band of Brothers, the central figure is an officer of Paratroops named Richard or Dick Winters.  He leads the Company of soldiers through training and the invasion of France to the victory over Germany and the occupation.  He is an admirable leader, modest, considerate, shares the privations of those he commands.  He did many heroic things.  One of them was to decide, after shooting a young SS soldier in Holland during an attack, that he would not take another life.  As an admiring senior officer remarks later, doing this as a combat leader was extraordinary.  Winters seems to have kept this resolution, all the while effectively leading his men through the Battle of the Bulge and other very rough times.  Winters trained men to fight during the Korean War and beyond, and would seem to have been a most effective teacher.  To me he is an example of the generation of War leaders that have mostly passed now.  He, and they, will be greatly missed.