Friday, August 23, 2013

One Bad Dude...!

This guy was a real life tough guy, without a doubt!

Any one of this guys injuries would be enough to put most guys out of commission for good, and to send them right into retirement! This man proved to be totally different! I'm surprised that there hasn't been a movie made about this man...and that's a fact!

The Soldier Who Refused To Die
By Mike Devlin on Thursday, August 22, 2013




Adrian Carton de Wiart was a bit of a badass. While serving with the British Army, he was shot more times than 50 Cent, losing his right eye and left hand in the process. He took bullets to the stomach, face, and skull among other places, survived a plane crash, and (as a senior citizen, mind you) tunneled out of a German POW camp with only one hand.

Adrian Carton de Wiart was born into a family of privilege in 1880 amid talk that he might have been the illegitimate son of Leopold II, King of the Belgians. He dropped out of college to serve in the British Army during the Boer War, where he would receive the first in a long legacy of wounds, shot in the stomach and groin. He returned immediately upon healing.

During World War I, he commanded infantry battalions on the Western Front. During the war, the man would literally absorb bullets. He lost his left hand and his right eye, and was shot through the skull, face, ankle, hip, leg, and ear on different occasions. When his fingers became infected and a doctor refused to remove them de Wiart bit them off himself. You wouldn’t blame the guy if he spent the rest of his life flinching at every loud noise. He did not. In fact, he was reported as saying “Frankly, I had enjoyed the war.”

The 60-year-old amputee with his pirate eyepatch again became a commander in World War II and was captured by the Italians after his plane crashed off the coast of Libya. Held in a medieval Tuscan castle, no one would have faulted the handicapped senior citizen for lying low. De Wiart most certainly did not. While entertaining his fellow captives with what was described as “the record for bad language,” he and his compatriots attempted escape five times, tunneling for months. He managed to get loose once for over a week, posing as an Italian peasant. Eventually, he was released by the Italians, who wanted to him to attempt negotiating a peace treaty with the British.

He would continue to have adventures throughout the world. While spending time in Burma, the old war hero tripped and fell down, breaking his back and several vertebrae. While he was recovering in the hospital, the doctors would take the time to remove shrapnel still lodged in his body from old wounds. Adrian Carton de Wiart finally died of natural causes aged 83.

One hates to use the term "hero" loosely, but I think that it certainly applies in this case! Rough and tough with a devil may care attitude seems to be a good way to describe him!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning. No rain is forecast, but why take a chance?

11 comments:

Chickenmom said...

Just had to look up some info on him. There are quite a few books published including his biography.
He died in 1963. Why haven't we ever heard of him before? Good post, Mr. Hermit! I'll bring a big box of jelly donuts for all.

Sunnybrook Farm said...

We had a tough old tom cat like him once, hell of a cat. Both had that spirit that we wish we had.

Sixbears said...

Some guys even death doesn't want to mess with.

linda m said...

Good post this morning. I always love reading about true heroes and brave men. This guy certainly fits the bill. We need more like him. Have a great weekend.

Gorges Smythe said...

Maybe the movie directors left him alone because their BS couldn't top his reality.

JO said...

What a man! Great post this morning.

I will have coffee in the kitchen will everyone.

Dizzy-Dick said...

You are right!! They really need to make a movie of his life.

HermitJim said...

Hey Phyllis...
Jelly donuts are always good!

Very unusual man, that's for sure!

Thanks for coming over today!



Hey Sunnybrook...
Very few of that kind show up! I would have enjoyed meeting him!

Thanks for dropping by today!



Hey Sixbears...
I think you're right about that!

Thanks for the visit today!



Hey Linda...
Makes the reading better when we realize these guys were real folks!

Haven't had many like him in a while!

Thanks for coming by today!



Hey Gorges...
I have to agree with you on that one! How could you make up someone like that without putting a cape on him?

Thanks for your visit this morning!



Hey Jo...
Sounds like a tough ol' bird, doesn't he?

Glad to see you could come over this morning, sweetie!



Hey Dizzy...
I think it would be a good story for a movie, that's for sure!

Thanks for coming by today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

Yep, you can't keep a good man down!!

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

He sure was one tough old bird that's for sure. Rain here too this afternoon.

Anonymous said...

And some people back then got a splinter and dies from blood poisoning :-)

Just imagine to have him as a father or even worse a father in law. No matter what one did he always could say something like: That's nothing, I remember when I got shot in the head :-) :-) :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.