Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.

His father was a 1917 graduate of the United States Military Academy and veteran of World War I.

His mother was a housewife from West Virginia who was distantly related to Thomas Jefferson.

The senior Schwarzkopf later became the founding Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, where he worked as a lead investigator on the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case.

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (, ; August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general.

While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War against Ba'athist Iraq.

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Schwarzkopf grew up in the United States and later in Iran.

Schwarzkopf was born Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. on August 22, 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey, to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. and Ruth Alice (née Bowman).

In 1946, when Norman Schwarzkopf was 12, he moved with his father to Tehran, Iran.

In Iran, he learned shooting, horseback riding, and hunting.

Schwarzkopf developed a lifelong interest in Middle Eastern culture.

The family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1947, following a new military assignment for Herbert Schwarzkopf.

The senior Schwarzkopf visited Italy, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, Germany during his military duties, and the younger Schwarzkopf accompanied him.

He attended the Community High School in Tehran, later the International School of Geneva, and briefly Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany (1948–49), and Heidelberg American High School in Heidelberg, Germany (1949–50).

By 1951 he had returned to Iran briefly before returning to the United States.

In January 1952, the younger Schwarzkopf's birth certificate was amended to make his name "H. Norman Schwarzkopf", reportedly because his father detested his first name.

The younger Schwarzkopf had two elder sisters, Ruth Ann (a civil rights and antiwar activist) and Sally Joan.

Norman Schwarzkopf was described by childhood friends as active and assertive, protective of his sisters and a skilled athlete.

He spent his childhood attached to his father, who subsequently became the narrator for the Gang Busters radio program.

When Norman Schwarzkopf was eight years old, his father returned to the military amid World War II.

His continuous absence made home life difficult, particularly for his wife.

As a 10-year-old cadet at Bordentown Military Institute, near Trenton, he posed for his official photograph wearing a stern expression because, as he said afterwards, "Some day when I become a general, I want people to know that I'm serious."

He eventually graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in 1952.

He was also a member of Mensa.

Schwarzkopf graduated valedictorian out of his class of 150, and his IQ was tested at 168.

Schwarzkopf then attended the United States Military Academy where he played football, wrestled, sang and conducted the West Point Chapel choir.

His large frame (6 ft in height and 240 lb in weight) was advantageous in athletics.

In his plebe year, he was given the nickname "Schwarzie", the same as his father, and he was often pushed by older cadets to imitate his father's radio show as a traditional act of hazing.

Schwarzkopf gained great respect for certain military leaders at West Point, notably Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and Creighton Abrams, believing them to be excellent commanders who nonetheless did not glorify war.

He was accepted by the United States Military Academy and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1956.

After a number of initial training programs, Schwarzkopf interrupted a stint as an academy teacher and served in the Vietnam War, first as an adviser to the South Vietnamese Army and then as a battalion commander.

Schwarzkopf was highly decorated in Vietnam and was awarded three Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts, and the Legion of Merit.

Herbert Schwarzkopf died in 1958.

From a young age, Norman wanted to be a military officer, following his father's example.

Rising through the ranks after the Vietnam war, he later commanded the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division and was one of the commanders of the invasion of Grenada in 1983.

Assuming command of United States Central Command in 1988, Schwarzkopf was called on to respond to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by the forces of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Initially tasked with defending Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression, Schwarzkopf's command eventually grew to an international force of over 750,000 troops.

After diplomatic relations broke down, he planned and led Operation Desert Storm, an extended air campaign followed by a highly successful 100-hour ground offensive, which defeated the Iraqi Army and removed Iraqi troops from Kuwait in early 1991.

Schwarzkopf was presented with military honors.

Schwarzkopf retired shortly after the end of the war and undertook a number of philanthropic ventures, only occasionally stepping into the political spotlight before his death from complications of pneumonia.

A hard-driving military commander, easily angered, Schwarzkopf was considered an exceptional leader by many biographers and was noted for his abilities as a military diplomat and in dealing with the press.