General Lucian King Truscott Jr. (9 January 1895 – 12 September 1965) was a highly decorated senior United States Army officer, who saw distinguished active service during World War II.

[3] Enlisting during the American entry into World War I, Truscott applied for officer training, falsely claiming to be a high school graduate who had completed the equivalent of a year of college.

[4] After completing the officer training camp at Fort Logan H. Roots, in October 1917 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Cavalry Branch of the U.S.

[5][6] During the war, he remained in the United States to patrol the border with Mexico, and served with the 17th Cavalry Regiment at Camp Harry J. Jones, Douglas, Arizona.

[6][14] It was while he was in this assignment where he came into close contact with Dwight D. Eisenhower, then a colonel serving in the 3rd Infantry Division (then stationed at Fort Lewis) as a battalion commander.

The American unit was activated by Truscott (newly promoted to the rank of brigadier general on 19 June 1942)[13] as the 1st Ranger Battalion, and placed under the command of Major William Orlando Darby.

In May 1942, Truscott was assigned to the Allied Combined Staff under Lord Louis Mountbatten and in August, he was the primary U.S. observer on the Dieppe Raid.

[17] Truscott took command of the 3rd Infantry Division in March 1943, and oversaw preparations for the Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky.

The general would transform the members of the 3rd Infantry Division, one of the army's oldest, in his crucible so that they could meet the challenges ahead.

The operation, the brainchild of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was intended to outflank, and potentially force the Germans to withdraw from their Winter Line defenses, which had considerably slowed Allied progress in Italy.

A quiet, competent, and courageous officer with great battle experience through North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, he inspired confidence in all with whom he came in contact.

"[21] Following Anzio, Truscott continued to command VI Corps through the fighting up the Italian boot, helping in the final Battle of Monte Cassino and the subsequent capture of Rome, just two days before the Normandy landings.

The rapid Allied advance after Operation Cobra and Dragoon slowed almost to a halt in September 1944 due to a critical lack of supplies, as thousands of tons of supplies were shunted to northwest France to compensate for the inadequacies of port facilities and land transport in northern Europe.

This command included the Eastern Military District of the U.S. occupation zone of Germany, which consisted primarily of the state of Bavaria.

[26] In 1954, Congress passed Public Law 83-508, which promoted several World War II senior officers who had exercised responsibilities greater than their rank; as a numbered army commander, Truscott carried out the duties of a four-star general, and the 1954 law promoted him to general on the retired list.

Then in 1948–1949, he spent a year as the Chairman of the Army Advisory Board for Amphibious Operations, at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

[27] In 1951, Walter Bedell Smith, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), appointed Truscott as "Special Consultant to the United States Commissioner" in Frankfurt, Germany.

[29] Truscott was involved in planning Operation PBSuccess, the CIA mission to overthrow Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz.

According to Harry Jeffers' biography, Truscott was instrumental in convincing Eisenhower to support PBSuccess with air power.

[33] On 29 April 1966, Truscott Hall, a bachelor officers' quarters at the United States Army War College, was named after him.

He was superstitious about his clothing, and usually wore a leather jacket, "pink" pants and lucky boots in combat.

Truscott was portrayed by Willis Bouchey in The Young Invaders and Charles H. Gray in Ike: The War Years.

Truscott received the United States Army's second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, for valor in action in Sicily on 11 July 1943, the second day of the invasion.