Warrior's Haven

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"I do not love the sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."
- Tolkien

Artist: Maéna Paillet.

On this day in 1960, William Ewart Fairbairn passed away peacefully at his home in Sussex, aged 75.

If you train WW2 combatives in any form, this man is the reason. Born in Hertfordshire in 1885, he went on to develop the hand-to-hand combat methods that would be used by Allied special forces throughout World War II: the British Commandos, the OSS, the Rangers, and beyond.

By all outward appearances he was an unassuming British policeman, short and ordinary looking. But his decades on the streets of Shanghai, training commandos, and shaping an entire generation of Allied fighters left a legacy that runs directly through to what we do today.

He put his philosophy simply:

"Get tough, get down in the gutter, win at all costs. I teach what is called Gutter Fighting. There's no fair play, no rules except one: kill or be killed."

Rest well, Lieutenant Colonel Fairbairn.