Chatfield native Lucian King Truscott, Jr. rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army to serve with distinction in World War II and the Cold War, becoming the only American officer in World War II to command in battle a regiment, a division, a corps, and a field army. As World War I raged in Europe, he secretly hoped to gain a commission in the U.S. Army, but instead of overseas duty in France he was assigned to the 17th Cavalry on the Mexican border. His interwar years followed the usual pattern for Army officers, with transfers to various posts and continued military education. In World War II, his first assignment took him to the British Isles to study amphibious landings on a hostile shore, where he created the first unit of army rangers. He saw his first major action in the failed August 19, 1942, Allied raid on the fortified French port of Dieppe, then was chosen to command one of Maj. Gen. George S. Patton's task forces in North Africa. There he excelled, and within four months he received command of the 3rd Infantry Division and prepared it for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. His 3rd Division fought hard in Italy, and by spring 1944 he had advanced to command the U.S. VI Corps and planned the Allied amphibious invasion of southern France in August 1944. By November 1944 he had earned command of the Fifth U.S. Army in Italy and took part in the 1945 spring offensive that helped compel German forces to surrender. At the war's end, he was assigned command of the Third U.S. Army and the military district of Bavaria, with administrative responsibility for the Nuremburg trials in 1945-1946. After retiring from the Army, he served the C.I.A. in West Germany in 1951, coordinating the collection of intelligence on the Soviet Union, and during his years with the C.I.A. he was promoted to general before retiring in 1959.