The Unkillable Soldier

When the Vocal challenge was announced where you have to write about someone overlooked in history, this was the man that first came to mind.

There have been countless war films, all looking at different aspects of war and highlighting key individuals that played a significant role. Yet, in my opinion, none have come close to the insane story of this man.

Below is a snippet from his Wikipedia page to give you an idea of what type of man this was, and then I will break down each part in more detail.

He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear. He was also blinded in his left eye, survived two plane crashes, tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp, and tore off his own severely injured fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war."

His major wounds such as being shot in the head and losing his left hand were all in the First World War. He then signed back up and committed some of the greatest acts of bravery in the second, despite what people would view as handicaps. It is no wonder he became Winston Churchill's representative after the Second World War. Let us be honest, it is not like anyone would have risked arguing against him.

So, I have to ask, why is there no film about him? In my personal opinion, it is because his story is so insane, that producers probably just do not know where to start.

I however, want to start off with a complete jawdropper. He is believed to be the illegitimate son of King Leopold II of the Belgians with his known cousin becoming Prime Minister of Belgium in 1920. You would not have thought that such a highly respected aristocrat would have gone to the front lines of the most devastating wars in recent history, but this was not a normal man.

Enlisting in the Boer War, he was wounded early on in the stomach and groin and was sent home. This made him more determined to achieve peak physical fitness and after extensive training, got another chance to go back to South Africa where he became the Lieutenant of the 4th Dragoon Guard.

Despite being of Belgium nationality, he swore an oath of allegiance to Edward VII in 1914 at the end of his tour and was formally naturalised as a British subject where he described his time in the Boer War as his "Heyday".

Then the First World War broke out. Carton was already on his way to fight in the Somaliland campaign. In an attack upon a fort, he was shot twice in the face where he lost an eye and a portion of his ear. This was not enough and from here, he travelled straight to France to fight on the Western Front.

Successfully commanding three infantry battalions and a brigade, he pushed through and became an iconic figure. During the war, he was wounded seven more times and yet still kept fighting.

He was shot through the skull and ankle at the Battle of the Somme, through the hip at the Battle of Passchendaele, through the leg at Cambrai, and through the ear at Arras. He went to the Sir Douglas Shield's Nursing Home to recover from his injuries.

After his recovery at the end of the war, he was sent to Poland to try and help with peace talks between Poland and Ukraine. Unfortunately, these were unsuccessful and he at one point was attacked on a train by a group of Red Cavalry. Despite falling off the train, he managed to get back on in time and fought them off with a revolver.

He then retired in 1923 with the honorary rank of Major General.

As you already know, another World War came about and Carton was brought back in to help advise the Polish Commander in Chief. After a lot of arguing, he managed to convince them to remove the Polish fleet from the Baltic Sea which proved vital in future war efforts. Then, fleeing Poland, his convoy was attacked by the Luftwaffe where he managed to escape, make it to Romania and use a fake passport to get out of the country.

When he got back, he was given a special appointment and was put in charge a hastily put together force whose objective was to take over Namson in Norway before launching an attack Trondheim with the aid of a Naval attack.

As you may expect, things did not go as planned and upon arrival in Namson, they were attacked by German fighter pilots, had their aide injured and the French Alpine troops arrived but without the transport mules or ski equipment. The German Luftwaffe very swiftly bombed Namson into dust and yet, despite missing equipment, Carton managed to move his forces across the mountains and on towards Trondheimsfjord.

Unfortunately, the naval force that was supposed to arrive to provide artillery support, never did. This left Carton and his men exposed and they were shelled by German Destroyers on one side, assaulted by Ski Troopers on the other, had naval troops coming making land and machine gunned and bombed from the air. He was told he was not allow to withdraw and that he had to hold the position for political reasons.

Surprisingly, that is exactly what he did until eventually, London decided to withdraw the troops and a mission to rescue them was underway. The mission was a partial success with the team being picked up, however, two Allied destroyers were lost in Battle. He was rescued and returned back to base on the 5th of May... his 60th Birthday.

He was not done yet though.

He was then appointed as head of the British-Yugoslavian Military Mission and on his way to Cairo, the engines on his place failed where he crashed landed around a mile away from the coast, swam to shore and was captured by the Italian authorities.

He ended up spending 2 years in prison where 7 months out of that he was tunnelling until he escape and disguised himself as an Italian peasant, despite not knowing any Italian. Unfortunately, he was eventually captured again, however, as the Italians where now looking to leave the war, they wanted to use Carton as a way out to contact the Allies and there he was finally escorted in secret to Lisbon and sent back to England.

After all of that, he was sent straight back out to China in 1943 where he played a crucial role in diplomatic relations and frequently travelled to China and India.

He passed away in 1963 at the age of 83, leaving behind him an incredible legacy of bravery and defiance of in the face of death.

This is just a picture of him looking like a cool Bond villain. I was going to type all of his awards and decorations, however, it is just easier to include an image.

His political interventions outside of being on the front line made just as big of an impact. And I will ask again, why does this man not have a film based on his life?

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I hope you all enjoyed this. I have always found the mentality of people and what drives them fascinating and this man shows just what the human body is capable of.