Lt-Col John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, DSO*, MC* was born in Colombo, then British Ceylon, in 1906. He fought in WWII where he earned himself the nickname 'Mad Jack' and would go into battle carrying longbow and arrows, bagpipes and a basket handled Scottish claymore. His motto was "Any soldier going into battle without his sword is improperly dressed".
Under retreat at Dunkerque he fired at and hit a German soldier with his bow making him maybe the last man to shoot another soldier with a bow in battle. Before the war, his archery skills got him a walk on role in the Douglas Fairbanks movie "The Thief of Baghdad".
He was second in command of the No. 3 Commando raid on the German position in Vågsøy, Norway in 1941. As the landing craft hit the beaches he played 'March of the Cameron Men' on his bagpipes, threw a grenade then drew his sword and charged into battle. He would charge into battle smiling, suggesting the Germans would be less likely to shoot him if he looked happy.
He saw further action in Italy, at one point losing his sword in hand-to-hand fighting but going back for it later and organized Partisan raids in Yugoslavia.
He was captured in 1944 and promptly escaped. On being recaptured he was eventually sent with other high-profile prisoners to Dachau where they were due to be executed in the last days of the war under the SS. A German army unit under the command of Captain Wichard von Alvensleben moved in to protect the prisoners and they were released.
Undeterred, Mad Jack went to Burma but by the time he got there, the war in the Pacific had ended. "If it wasn't for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years!" he remarked.
He later qualified as a parachutist and was involved in the transfer of control in British Palestine, defending the medical convoy that was attacked at Hadassah and rescuing hundreds of medical staff. The road to the hospital is named Churchill Boulevard.
Later he was again in movies, featuring in 'Ivanhoe', again as an archer. He was the first man to ride the tidal bore of the River Severn on a surfboard. Finally taking a desk job, he would ride the train home each evening when he would alarm passengers by opening the train carriage window and tossing his briefcase over a hedge. He went on to explain that he was simply throwing it into his garden so he wouldn't have to carry it home from the station.
Mad Jack Churchill died on March 8th, 1996, aged 89.
These tales from history are sometimes embellished but sometimes not. And if this seems like a fireside tale for innocent ears, here's a picture. That's Mad Jack, on the right, coming off a landing craft. With his sword.
Good lad, Jack.