Paul Bert Huff was born in 1918 in Cleveland. His mother died when he was just 5 years old. An upholsterer, he enlisted in the United States Army at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, in June 1941, six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In November 1942, his unit was reorganized as the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, an independent airborne command. They performed the army’s first airborne drop that same month during Operation Torch in North Africa.

On January 22, 1944, the 509th participated in the landings at Anzio during Operation Shingle, a part of the Italian Campaign. Within days, his unit was charged with holding the beachhead perimeter defenses against fierce German counterattacks. On February 8, Corporal Huff volunteered to lead a successful six-man patrol to knock out German machine guns and gather intelligence. In June 1944, General Mark Clark presented the Medal of Honor to Huff for is actions at Carano.

Huff became a career non-commissioned (NCO) officer after World War II. He rose to the highest NCO officer rank and deployed to Vietnam in 1967. He died in 1994. The Paul B. Huff Parkway in Cleveland was dedicated in his honor in 1988.