[F]or John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, nicknamed “Mad Jack,” there was nothing he’d rather arm himself with than a trusty sword and bow.

Europe was fast approaching World War II. Mad Jack had left the army after ten years of service, but happily returned to it because of the “country having gotten into a jam in my absence.”

By May 1940, Mad Jack was the second in command of an infantry company. He always marched into battle with a bow and arrows and his trusty basket-hilted claymore by his side. Despite these weapons being wildly outdated, Churchill defended them, saying, “In my opinion…any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.”

During the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk – in which 300,000 troops became stranded on beaches and had to be evacuated—Churchill struck down a German soldier with a well-placed arrow. He was later seen chugging along on a motorcycle with his bow strapped to the side.

A German officer’s cap was hanging on the headlight.

His sword also served him well later, in 1943.

At the time, Mad Jack was a commanding officer in Salerno when his troops were forced into line fighting—something for which they hadn’t been trained. Churchill went ahead of his soldiers wielding his sword. He leapt out at German sentries from the darkness, blade held high, and the Germans were so frightened by the “demon” that they surrendered.

Churchill took 42 prisoners that night with the help of just one other companion and his trusty sword.

Bow, sword and…bagpipes.

Well, come on. They were technically developed as weapons of war, brought north to the British Isles by the Roman legions from Egypt.

Photos via Wikipedia.
Via Today I Found Out for the full awesome story.