In my opinion one of the most interesting figures during WW2 was Belgian Léon Degrelle.

Degrelle had it all. He was good looking, intelligent and capable. A real overman.

Degrelle was a Catholic political figure before WW2 broke out. He founded Rexism and formed the Belgian Rexist Party. Degrelle kinda fell out with the leading Belgian Catholics and by the time WW2 has started the Rexism movement, that had achieved moderate success, was in decline. The Rexist movement was supported by Hitler and Mussolini.

When WW2 began Degrelle was arrested by the French for being a suspected collaborator and taken to France. The Germans released him a very short time later when the German occupation of France began.

Even though Degrelle supported Hitler I do admire some things about him. He is pretty much the only politician that joined the fight. And get this. Despite the status within the National Socialist Movement that Degrelle enjoyed due to his political career and his journalistic success, Degrelle joined the fight as a low ranking private because he had no military experience. Degrelle joined to fight on the front lines of the Eastern Front to fight against the Red Devil Communist Army. Thats kinda cool, you have to admit.

Degrelle ended up being part of the Wallonien. The Wallonien were a Belgian Waffen SS Volunteer Brigade.

So Degrelle as a private .... Read this. Wiki does a decent jobfor once.

While Wallonien and Wiking were engaged defending the brunt of the Soviet attack, several Soviet Tank formations had advanced along the side of the salient and succeeded in encircling the German forces.
During the battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket, the Wallonien was given the task of defending against Soviet attacks on the Eastern side of the pocket. After the 105. Regiment of the 72. Infantarie Division became exhausted defending Novaya-Buda from Soviet attacks, the Wallonien was sent to relieve them. While General der Artillerie willhelm Stemmerman, the overall commander for the trapped forces, moved his forces to the west of the pocket in readiness for a breakout attempt, Wallonien and Wiking were ordered to act as a rearguard. During the desperate fighting, Lippert was killed. Degrelle quickly took command of the Brigade, and after repulsing all Soviet attempts to break through near the town of Novaya-Buda, the Wallonien began withdrawing one platoon at a time, under cover of darkness. Advancing through Hell's Gate, the brigade came under heavy enemy fire with little or no cover. Of the brigade's 2,000 men, only 632 survived the carnage of the Korsun Pocket. For his actions in the battle, Degrelle was awarded the knights cross of the iron cross and promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer. A  propaganda campaign was launched which successfully portrayed Degrelle as a hero to pro-German Europeans.

-wiki

The guy was a hero. Does it get any better than that? Wiki leaves out that after taking command of the Wallonien, Degrelle was wounded but fought on. Degrelle made the impossible National Socialist escape possible with his heroics.

Degrelle became an inspirational National Socialist speaker in the twilight of WW2. After the defeat of the National Socialists Degrelle commandeered a plane and escaped to Spain where he survived a crash landing on a Spanish beach. Degrelle was protected by Franco and he lives a long and happy life in Spain even after Franco died and Spain became democratic. Degrelle was 87 years old when he died.

Asked if Degrelle had any regrets about WW2 he said - "Only that we lost!"

One thing that stands out to me about the story of Degrelle is what Hitler told the heroic Belgian - "if I had a son, I would want him to be like you."