Jack Churchill has the distinction of being the last British man to kill an enemy with a longbow during a war, this he did in World War 2. Click below to see an article about this eccentric soldier in PDF format. Scroll down for a text only version.
Captain ‘Mad Jack’ Churchill : Text only version
In March 2014, The Royal Norwegian Explorers Club published a book naming Captain Jack Churchill as one of the finest explorers and adventurers of all time.
Captain Jack Churchill, aka ‘Mad Jack’ or ‘Fighting Jack’ can only be described as an eccentric hero. While fighting throughout World War II, Captain Jack stated that “Any British officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed”. He would head for battle armed with a Longbow and arrows, a basket-hilted Scottish Claymore sword and his bagpipes! Before the war, Jack had carved out roles as a male model and thanks to his archery and bagpipe playing skills he appeared in films like ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ (1924) and ‘A Yank at Oxford’ in 1938.
In 1926 he graduated from Sandhurst Military Academy and served in Burma with the Manchester Regiment until his retirement in 1936. In 1938 he won second prize in military piping at the Aldershot Military Tattoo. In 1939 he represented Great Britain in the World Archery Championships in Oslo.
At an invasion landing in Norway he leapt ashore playing ‘March of the Cameron Men’ on his pipes while tossing hand grenades at the enemy soldiers, winning the Military Cross. At an invasion landing in Italy he led his men ashore wielding his trademark sword and was awarded a Military Cross Bar. Tragedy struck in Italy, when Churchill’s platoon were killed by a German mortar attack while he himself was playing his pipes. But soon afterwards, he was ordered to capture a German observation post in the town of Molina that was controlling the pass from the Beachhead at Salerno. Churchill recruited a lieutenant and set off at nightfall with his trusty broadsword in hand. He infiltrated the town and captured the post, taking 42 prisoners, including a mortar squad! Churchill lead the men and prisoners back down the pass with the wounded being carried by German prisoners, receiving the first of his two ‘Distinguished Service Orders’ for his efforts. Churchill later returned to the town to retrieve the sword he had lost during combat with the Germans. On his way he ran into a disoriented American patrol who were headed towards enemy lines. Churchill tried to warn the Americans that they were headed the wrong way, but eventually gave up, declaring “Well I won’t be coming back a bloody third time!”
At the outbreak of World War II, Jack resumed his commission with the British Expeditionary Force to France. In May 1940, he set his unit in ambush of a German Patrol near L’Epinette. Churchill gave the signal to attack. According to his son Malcolm, he had told his men, “I will shoot the first German with an arrow” and that’s exactly what he did, cutting down the enemy Feldwehel (Staff-Sergeant) with a barbed arrow. At the same time becoming the last British man to kill an enemy with a longbow during a war.
In 1944, Churchill went to Yugoslavia where he led a “motley army” of 1,500 resistance fighters and a troop of Commando in a raid on the German held island of ‘Brac’. Only Churchill and six others managed to reach their objective. A mortar shell killed or wounded everybody but Churchill as he once again playing “Will Ye No Come Back Again?” on his pipes as the Germans advanced. He was captured after being knocked unconscious.
In late April 1945, having been released (after two attempts at escaping), Mad Jack walked 100 miles to Verona in Italy where he met up with Allied Forces and re-joined his unit. The Pacific War was still being fought so it wasn’t long before Churchill found himself in Burma. But by the time he had reached India on his way to the front, Hiroshima and Nagasaki had already been bombed. Churchill was said to be unhappy with the sudden end of the war, and was quoted saying, “If it wasn’t for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going for another 10 years!”
After the war, he transferred to Palestine were he served with typical distinction, saving 700 Jewish doctors, students and patients when they were evacuated from a hospital in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem.
After his retirement in 1959 he moved to Australia where his eccentricity continued. He startled passengers on his commute home by throwing his briefcase from the still moving train – everyday. He finally explained that the train passed his garden, by throwing it, it saved him having to carry the case home. Captain Jack Churchill died in Surrey in 1996, aged 89.
