By Melanie Beran
A well-dressed passenger on a train, stood up, walked a few aisles over; leaning across the other passengers, he opened the window and suddenly flung his nice briefcase out the window. He nonchalantly took a seat and continued reading his paper. Thus "Mad Jack" Churchill continued in civilian life as he had as a WWII decorated hero - flamboyant and always doing the unexpected.
Truly what else would you expect from a man who stormed the beach of Normandy, leading a company or British Commandos, carrying a medieval broads sword. An English longbow on his back. These weren't theater props; he has the distinction of killing the last man in war with a long bow (at 200 yards).
With a name like “Mad Jack,” one can only marvel at the stories of the famed Brit, Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Churchill. Such a man has the distinction of joining the Queen’s Army not once, but twice! He believed a commander’s reputation should both cripple the enemy in fear and embolden his men to fearlessness. A fascinating study in a man who lived through WWII with outrageous flamboyant acts of bravery.
John Malcom Thorpe Fleming Churchill (no relation to the infamous Winston) was born in 1906 and received his commission as a young man in 1926. As England was between wars at the time, Churchill was sent off to the Far East where he read poetry, honed his archer’s aim, and even learned to play the bagpipes. The foreign life had him charmed. So much so, in fact, that he became bored when he was later stationed back in England and left the Army.
Soon though, the drums of war began to beat for Mother England again and Churchill was called back into the service. Of all the weapons of modern war, the bow is not generally held in high regard. However, in the hands of Mad Jack, it was a silent killer. Helping the French hold the Maginot Line, Churchill could pick off German patrolmen at 200 yards with a deadly and soundless accuracy. One can only imagine the psychological toll he was able to impose upon the enemy. This was only the beginning of the legend of Mad Jack. The earning of the name was soon to follow.
As the Germans began advancing into France, Churchill’s bravery began striding forward. With his company trapped during the Battle of l’Epinette, he burned through every bullet in his machine guns and every arrow in his quiver. Rather than surrender and admit defeat, Churchill held on until nightfall when he could regroup with his company. Under his leadership, they slithered through the night, evaded German forces, and dutifully reported back to the British command by morning. The bullet he took to the shoulder would remind him of the battle all his life.
Finally, the excitement the Army had promised was available to him. No longer a bored young adult languishing in the English countryside, Jack jumped at the opportunity to join the British commandos. Imagine a commando with a passion for bagpipes leading his men into battle to the martial sound of his pipes? So that’s exactly what Churchill did. Arriving to explode Nazi targets in Norway, Churchill landed armed with his bow and arrow, Scottish sword, and bagpipes. Once again, the Germans left him with yet another scar to remember the attack.
Over and over, Jack was sent to attack Axis targets all over the European theater and over and over, Jack led his men by bravery and bagpipe. Sicily, Messina, Pigoletti- all saw the heroics of Mad Jack Churchill. Eventually though, his luck ran out.
Churchill was captured in Croatia after leading a nighttime raid to successfully capture the Vidova gora- the highest peak of all the Adriatic islands. Living up to the “Mad” in “Mad Jack,” Churchill wrote a letter thanking the Germans for their kind treatment after 48 hours in captivity. In fact, he wrote to the commander that after the war, “come and have dinner with my wife and myself.” Years later Churchill helped the German commander and did in fact have dinner with him - as always true to his word.
Because of the shared surname, the Germans (incorrectly) believed him to be some sort of relative to the Prime Minister. Mad Jack ended up imprisoned with former chancellors and ministers while at Sachsenhausen Camp. Camp walls were a mere annoyance for Churchill, and he and a Royal Air Force officer soon dug their way to short-lived freedom. Again, the walls were merely a suggestion for Mad Jack as he made his successful escape into the Austrian countryside. Mountains were not much of a boundary either, for Mad Jack walked across the Alps to American forces while living off scraps and stolen meals.
Much to Jack’s chagrin, the war ended just as he was preparing to join an invasion of Japan. His dream of martyrdom for freedom had ended with the armistice. Though the war was over, Churchill was far from finished with his distinguished military career. After completing parachute school and making his first successful jumps, he earned the distinction of becoming the only officer to have commanded both a Commando and Parachute unit. This earned him a station in Jerusalem in the newly established state of Israel. While facing round after round of terrorist attack with the new British ally, Churchill never lost the madness that had earned him the “Mad Jack” moniker. While landing all over Europe, he led the way with his bagpipes. In Jerusalem, he had a different mission and therefore a different tactic. After all, as he once said, “People are less likely to shoot you if you smile at them.” Congeniality allowed him to evacuate over 500 patients and staff from a Jewish hospital under Arab attack. Once again, lunacy from Mad Jack came through victorious.
Eventually, age would catch Churchill, as it so often does to heroes. Retirement was spent on different types of insanity- refurbishing steamboats to float the Thames and racing along in motorcycle speed trials. He would even ride the trains, shocking fellow passengers by calmly opening the window and throwing out his briefcase! Madman, indeed! Of course, only he knew the secret- Mad Jack was tossing the luggage into his own backyard.
Landing on enemy beaches with a quiver and bagpipe, sneaking British forces through a slumbering German line, escaping not once but twice from German POW camps. One thing can be certain- John Churchill was indeed a different sort of mad.