When you dig through WW2,Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr’s name will pop up from time to time, and it’s usually with reverence, or ‘bad-ass’ or ‘best WW2 general’. Considering the competition, that last one is a hell of a statement.

I won’t pretend to be qualified enough to rank best WW2 Generals – I always thought Marshal Georgy Zhukov may have earned that title, but I can see arguments for others.

Regardless, this isn’t a tier list. It’s a ‘if you haven’t heard of Terrible Terry before, you gotta check this mofo out’ piece.

His life is legendary, and TBH, I don’t know how a movie isn’t made about him every 20 years.

Quick run down.

– Kicked out of West Point for being too rough around the edges
– Served in WW1 AND WW2. Some of his medals include: Service Medal (with an Oak Leaf Cluster), Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and Purple Heart (with an Oak Leaf Cluster), among other campaign medals and service awards. He also earned the Croix de Guerre.
– Terrible Terry stuttered, but getting shot in the face somehow cured him of it!
– He was cav and wanted to go to the front lines, so he had to become an infantryman.

According to rumour,[10] Allen showed up at a school for infantry officers the day before a class graduation. When the commandant of the school began to hand out certificates to the graduates, Allen lined up with them. When confronted with him, the commandant said, “I don’t remember you in this class.” “I’m Allen. Why don’t you?” was his reply.[3] Without further ado, Allen was given the certificate and became a temporary major.[11]

– Patton went over to purposefully piss in Allen’s foxhole, until he heard the safeties click from various guns. Patton left mid-stream!

– He outdrank a Russian general!

– He outraced a cowboy!

– He somehow became friends with Ike, Teddy Roosevelt Jr, and Edward VIII [the future king of England before he abdicated]

– Terry innovated night fighting. Patton showed up one morning idignant that the battle hadn’t started yet. Well, that’s because Terrible Terry decided to get the party started the night before, and the battle was over already.

Patton demanded to know why he attacked prematurely at night.

Allen’s response?

‘So you know who Knute Rockne is? He invented the forward pass. Why would I beat my brains out for a yard-and-a-half when I can just pass the ball for 40 yards’

Terrible Terry had many other exploits, too many to post here, so just check out this vid about him. Totally worth it.