Jack Churchill (person)

Europe, 1940. The German army is advancing further into French territory.
The High Commands (Oberkommando des Heeres - OKH) are overseeing the operations.
But random reports are coming in that have all the high ranking officers baffled.
Reports of soldiers killed by broad-head arrows. Soldiers hacked by a claymore...

The Story of "Mad Jack" Churchill

Jack Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill was born to English parents in Hong Kong on September 1906 and started his military career in the Manchester Regiment at the age of 20. Before the outbreak of WWII, he first served in Rangoon, Burma where he became known for his eccentricity, fearlessness, and his love of bagpipes. In fact, it is reported that Churchill twice travelled more than 500 miles from Rangoon to Maymyo and back on a motorcycle - a trip substantially complicated by the absence of roads and the presence of large hostile water buffalos - only to get instructions from a pipe major.

Upon returning to England in 1932, Churchill started practicing archery and training troops. Awakening everybody at 3 am by shattering the night with pipe music was his signature card. On one parade he appeared carrying an umbrella, a mortal sin in any army. When asked by the furious battalion adjutant what he meant by such outlandish behaviour, Churchill famously replied : "Well it is raining, sir..." He formally gave his resignation soon thereafter, taking on the work of a movie extra. His expertise with bows and arrows landed him a featuring in "The Thief of Baghdad" (1924) and he became so good at it that he shot for Britain at the Bow & Arrow World Championships in Oslo in 1939. His filming career also included a notable appearance in "The Drum"(1938), an action movie in which he played... the bagpipes.

With Germany's attack on Poland in September 1939, Churchill promptly re-enlisted in the army, only to be assigned back to the Manchesters. He would later humbly say : "I was back in my red coat; the country having got into a jam in my absence." Sent to France, Churchill made it to Dunkirk where he was seen chugging across the Flanders plain on a small motorcycle, swinging a sword, his bow and arrows sticking out, a German officer’s cap hanging on the headlight.

He eventually signed up for commando training in Scotland in 1941 and on December 27th led a brilliant assault on the German garrison at Vaagso, the Norwegian town on Nord Fiord. As one account puts it, "Mad Jack" waded ashore into the thick smoke, uttering warlike cries. The raid was a complete success and was duly celebrated with liberated Moselle wine. Churchill's report at mission's end was this one:

"Maaloy battery and Island captured . Casualties slight . Demolitions in progress . Churchill ."

From then on he led a series of extraordinary attacks, and gained quite a reputation but in May 1944, during an overly ambitious charge on the German-held Yugoslav island of Brac, Churchill found himself one of the few survivors. Only 6 Commandos had made it to the hilltop, more than half of them badly wounded. Churchill, surrounded, turned to his pipes, playing "Will ye no come back again" until German grenades burst in his position and he was stunned by a fragment from one of them. He regained consciousness to discover he was made prisoner by the German army.

He was the only one flown to Berlin for interrogation. Upon arrival he apparently managed to leave a burning match and paper on the plane, producing a fire, considerable confusion, and infuriating the Luftwaffe officers escorting him. He was immediately sentenced to spend time in solitary confinement, and ended up being shipped to the infamous Sachsenhausen camp. After several escape plans gone wrong, he was moved to the Niederdorf camp in Austria. One wonderful April night in 1945, the camp’s lighting system shut down. Churchill seized the moment, and disappeared into the darkness with only a small rusty can and some onions hidden in his jacket. He then headed south for the Alps. Eight days later, he was found by American troops in Verona, Italy, some 150 miles away walking with a sprained ankle.

Mad Jack, also nicknamed "Fighting Jack" Churchill, continued in the army even after WWII, becoming a paratrooper at the age of 40. Later, as he served as an instructor in Australia, he fell in love with surfboarding and became absolutely devoted to the sport! He surfed and surfed some more. All the while possibly playing bagpipes at the same time. He even designed his own board and became the first man ever to ride the five foot tidal bore of the Severn River.

Churchill retired from the army in 1959, and died peacefully of natural causes at age 90.