The Soldier Who Fought With a Broadsword, Bagpipes, and Longbow

Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming 'Mad Jack' Churchill entered battle throughout WWII armed with a Scottish broadsword, a longbow, and bagpipes. He used his longbow to kill an enemy officer with an arrow during the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 — believed to be the last confirmed longbow kill in recorded combat. He led a raid on a German position in France while playing the bagpipes. He was captured by the Germans in Yugoslavia in 1944, sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, escaped, and was recaptured. Despite being a POW, he was still fighting the war until the final day. His famous quote: 'Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.' He died in 1996 and was cremated; his ashes were scattered at the base of the statue of William Wallace in Stirling, Scotland — where he had fought a battle centuries earlier. His son donated his sword and bow to the Imperial War Museum.