Winston Churchill

One day, a child was born. Although November 30, 1874 was just a day like any other, one of the most influential people in history was born. That child who would later change the world and showed courage, strength in love, and persistence like no other human at the time. This was my hero, Winston Churchill.

(http://www.levimage.com/image/press/Churchill_boy.jpg)

His parents, who showed little love for him, were out of his life during his childhood. He was not adopted, stolen, or forgotten, but just given to a nanny while the parents ran around insulting politicians, caught up in their work, or vacationing in some far away colony as he grew up. Therefore his intense relationship with his nanny began. As a little child, he tried to call her “woman” to get her attention, but called her “Woom.” The name stuck to the day she died. He loved his nanny, Woom.

His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, and his mother, Jennie Jerome, both came from wealthy families. His mother, daughter of a New York millionaire, came to Britain at age 13, and then met Lord Randolph Churchill at age 19 in a ball. Three days later he proposed to her! His father was a high political leader, who inherited great fame and wealth from his father, The 7th Duke of Marlborough.

The first school he ever went to was Misses Thomson’s school where he ranked at the bottom of his class but he absolutely loved it more than any of his other major schools he attended. The next school he went to was Harrow, where he was until he moved to Sandhurst. Winston enjoyed playing with lead soldiers; his collection at around eight was a mere 500, at age ten, a good 1,000, and at 12 more than 1,500! When Winston was twelve his normally absent father was walking around the nursery and he discovered his son making an intense war scene with his soldiers. As he was muttering to himself on how childish this was, he noticed that they were in the correct positions for a realistic battle. That is when Winston’s entire life and everything with it turned around. His father slowly asked him if he’d like to learn about war, train about war, and hopefully attend war.

As a calvary unit (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dSZQ_FbAxSA/Sj2kyrUVTvI/AAAAAAAABck/iGvvHBXt73I/s400/young+Winston+Churchill.jpg)

Winston smelled opportunity, later that year he joined Sandhurst Military Academy. This was a school for royal teens to train to become successful military attendants.

After his school he had a brief but eventful military career as a Calvary unit. In 1895 he fought for Spain and was awarded their Class of Honor. Then he adopted a love for a reporting and sailed to South Africa where the famed Boer war was taking place. During the time he was writing he discovered a group of wounded warriors and went to help them. Suddenly enemies attacked and he sacrificed himself to give the wounded soldiers time to save themselves. Unfortunately he was captured and held captive as a P.O.W. (Prisoner of War). While multi tasking as a prisoner (trying to stay alive and trying to escape) he escaped to a loyalist’s hut where he hid in his basement for two weeks then sailed back to Britain. He came back so weak he was ready to abandon his job as a reporter.

He was now seen as an honor for the country, a person of glory, and a person of heroism. Now taking advantage of his fame he ran for politics, successfully acquiring the position of First Lord of Admiralty. Then in May of 1915, a terrible feat struck, his own military campaign failed. He lost the Dardanelles Campaign. The campaign that failed was the one in which he had watched carefully and was tied to his own career. He was demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His pride slowly dissolved as he held this position and quit six months later.

Because he needed to support his Clementine and five children; Diana, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold, and Mary, he commanded a battalion of Royal Scots until May 1916. He was appointed Minister of Munitions in 1917, and then later, with Hitler becoming stronger and stronger, he was appointed War and Air Chief. He held this Honor in January 1921; (21 years before Britain would enter the war) he was appointed secretary of the states. As he held this very glorious role in society, he made his own country safer by posting unused soldiers as police officers, and the majority of the population agreed it was a good thing to do. However rivals shut him down in 1929, the year when he was excused from the government.

For ten years he expressed his feelings the British government concerning Hitler. He was ignored and called crazy, wasted, or even childish. As his frustration grew so did Hitler with his Soviet Union buddies. As Hitler was slowly taking over Europe, Winston realized Britain was next. He managed to grasp First Lord of Admiralty again in September 1939, which for the entire year he set off preparing troops, training new men, and forcing Britain’s government back in shape!

In 1940 he took his biggest and best leap society yet. He ran and gained rights of a Prime Minister! Now held up as the most dominant force in England, he claimed war with the US on the Soviet Union. As his writings and speeches became a legend, not a WWII legend a Winston Churchill legend! He never abandoned hope. When he lived in London she regularly visited the carpet bombing sights and was able to analyze his own mistakes without drawing public interest or insults.

In 1951 he ran again but only weeks later the public discovered that he had poor health, retaining his ability to function on day-to-day politics. Now at age 77, he “retired” which was more or less incorrect in terms of activity. Two years later, in 1953, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and became a Knight of the Gator. Later that year he died.

As an inspiration toward mankind, he also overcame terrible obstacles. One year that challenged him more than any, was the dreaded year of 1894 where both his father and his nanny, whom he was so close with, died. This year tore him apart but he was inspired to honor his father in all that he did. His father propelled him to try hard and inspired his dream to work side by side with him in the same honor, respect, and glory as his father.

Winston inspired many hearts in England and all over the world, but the biggest honor he received was his own charity, a charity that benefited England and its poor population. This charity you can access through this web link: winstonchurchill.org. Even though it wasn’t founded until around twenty-five years after his death, it was still named after him because it showed the role model of the charity.

Winston is a hero to me because his life and actions show that if you have a dream, persistence will prevail even if bad things happen. Another inspiring thought is that things may happen but you can make good out of them, which happened to him when he was excused from First Lord of Admiralty. He showed me that a hero doesn’t have to fight in wars, or occur in ancient times with a sword and slay the enemy; you just have to know right from wrong and persist in your goals and inspirations as he did with Hitler. He is my hero, not because he had power but for what he did with that power. Power is positive only when it is used right, just as an average human can become a Winston Churchill.