Major General Paul John Mueller (November 16, 1892 – September 25, 1964) was a highly decorated senior United States Army officer.

Mueller was born on November 16, 1892, in Union, Missouri, and after attending the high school, he enrolled at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in June 1911.

With the American entry into World War I, which occurred on April 6, 1917, Mueller was appointed a camp instructor at the Presidio of San Francisco.

With the arrival to the Western Front in June 1918, Mueller was promoted, at the age of 25, to the rank of major and appointed as commanding officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion of his regiment.

Returning again to the United States, he attended and graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1923.

He led the training division from 1940 to 1941, during World War II (although the United States was still neutral at this point), for the chief of the infantry command.

In October 1941, now a full colonel, he was assigned as chief of staff for the Headquarters of the U.S. Second Army at Memphis, Tennessee, under Lieutenant General Ben Lear.

In August 1942, several months after the United States entered World War II, Mueller was given command of the 81st Infantry Division at Camp Rucker, Alabama, and was soon promoted to the two-star rank of major general.

For the next two years Mueller moved the division to different training locations throughout the United States before it was deployed overseas to the Pacific in the summer of 1944.

Confronted initially by difficult beaches and jungle growth, General Mueller skillfully maneuvered his command with such professional ability that he was able to launch an aggressive assault and drive the island's defenders into a single pocket of resistance on the coast.

In maneuvering thus, he was confronted with extremely difficult terrain consisting of low hills and ridges, sharp coral pinnacles, and caves, with no roads giving access thereto.