Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill — known as "Mad Jack" — is one of the most extraordinary and unlikely figures of World War II. A pre-war male model and movie extra who had played in an archery tournament at the 1939 World Championships, Churchill went to war with a Scottish broadsword strapped to his waist, a longbow over his shoulder, and a set of bagpipes.

He is credited with the last confirmed longbow kill in warfare — shooting a German feldwebel (sergeant) with an arrow during the 1940 campaign in France. "I maintain that, as long as you can make your enemy duck, you have gained the upper hand," he said.

Norway and Italy

During the Vågsøy raid in Norway in 1941, Churchill led the assault by playing "March of the Cameron Men" on his bagpipes before throwing a grenade and charging into the German positions sword-first. In Italy, he led a commando raid on the town of Pigoletti, capturing 42 German prisoners and a mortar crew with his sword alone. When asked how he managed it, he replied: "I maintain that, in the dark, a claymore has a big psychological advantage."

Capture and Escape

Churchill was captured in Yugoslavia in 1944 after his entire commando unit was killed or wounded. He was the last man standing, playing "Will Ye No Come Back Again" on his bagpipes as the Germans closed in. He was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

He escaped. He walked to the Baltic coast — 150 miles — surviving on vegetables stolen from fields. He was recaptured and sent to another camp in Austria. He escaped again, this time walking to Italy where he met an American armored column.

When the war in Europe ended, Churchill was furious. He transferred to the Pacific Theater, but Japan surrendered before he saw action. "If it hadn't been for those damn Yanks," he reportedly said, "we could have kept the war going another ten years."

After the war, he became a surfer, an instructor at a land-air warfare school, and retired to Australia. He is one of the few men in history who can truthfully be said to have brought a sword to a gunfight — and won.