Adrian Carton de Wiart

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart was an exceptionally resilient British Army officer of Belgian and Irish descent whose career spanned multiple major conflicts of the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. Renowned for his extraordinary survival skills and indomitable spirit, Carton de Wiart was shot in the face, head, stomach, groin, ankle, leg, hip, and ear over the course of his service. He also survived two plane crashes, lost his left eye, tunnelled out of an Italian prisoner-of-war camp, and famously ripped off his own mangled fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them.

His military career began with service in the Boer War and continued through the First World War and Second World War. For his conspicuous bravery during the First World War, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration for valour in the Commonwealth. Carton de Wiart's attitude toward combat was famously summarized in his memoir, where he wrote, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war."

In addition to the Victoria Cross, he was highly decorated by both the British government and foreign nations. His numerous awards include the Distinguished Service Order, appointment to the Order of the British Empire, the Order of the Bath, and the Order of St Michael and St George, alongside prestigious foreign decorations such as the French Legion of Honour and the Polish Virtuti Militari.