History Fun Fact for November 15th
On This Day In History in 1915, Winston Churchill resigned from his Government and headed to the Western Front to take command of the 6th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.
This guy was the serious, real deal.
Did You Know: Churchill was a prisoner of war.
A few weeks after he arrived in South Africa during the 2nd Boer War, he accompanied a Scouting trip (why the heck are they sending boy scouts into a war zone?) in an armoured train.
The train was ambushed. Churchill fought bravely and with courage and valour, however, he was taken prisoner and sent to a POW camp in Pretoria.
Churchill staged a very daring jail break. As the saying goes: Never give up, never surrender.
Even when you're a prisoner. Churchill had a cunning plan. To escape. Which he did by climbing a very large wall in the pitch black of night. It was dangerous. Very dangerous. So dangerous that two of his fellow prisoners turned back.
Churchill kept going, though. And going. All through the night.
Luck happened upon him. He bumped into the house of a British coal mine manager. Well, it was dark. The fellow Brit hid him in a mineshaft for three days.
After that, when the heat had died down, Churchill made the 300 mile trek to Mozambique and safety.
Churchill returned to England a hero. But didn't stay. He re-enlisted in the army, rushed back to Pretoria and fought on the front lines, capturing the city.
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