Top Nazi, Reichsmarschall, and head of the Luftwaffe. During World War I, he was an officer in the air service of the Imperial German Army, became a successful top ace, and was awarded the Pour le Merite (aka Blue Max) and Iron Cross 1st Class for shooting down 22 Allied aircraft. He became the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG I), "Flying Circus," the fighter squadron formerly commanded by the late Baron von Richthofen. After the war, he became a barnstormer and show flier in Scandinavia. Soon after, he became involved with the fledgling Nazi Party, rising through its ranks, garnering many high-ranking titles. He was among those wounded in the infamous failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine, which persisted until the last year of his life. He directed "Night of the Long Knives," the purge that led to the murder of Ernst Rohm and other SA leaders. He ordered the elimination of Jews from the German economy and the seizing of their possessions (and those of Nazi-occupied countries) and later instructed Heydrich in 1941 to find and coordinate a general 'solution of the Jewish question' in all territories occupied by the Nazis. During his reign of power, he became a well-known collector of many rare and priceless fine arts, which had been chiefly stolen from both private and public collections under Nazi authority. Among his many titles, he was best known as the Commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (German WW2 Air Force), as well as the President of the Reichstag, Prime Minister of Prussia, and 1st in succession to Adolf Hitler. He was also responsible, along with Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, for setting up the first concentration camps. Convicted for crimes against humanity with other Nazi leaders in the 1946 Nuremberg Trials, he was sentenced to death. However, he somehow obtained a cyanide vial in his prison cell, which he used to commit suicide just hours before his scheduled execution by hanging. It was speculated that the vial was hidden in the bottom of a cold cream jar, unwittingly provided to him by his chief U.S. Army guard, Lt. Jack G. Wheelis, but other evidence has since come to light to suggest something to the contrary. Göring's remains were cremated along with many other Nazi criminals. The ashes were raked out and later scattered into the Wenzbach/Conwentzbach, a small stream in Munich.