Canadian Forces

Bill Underwood - Creator of Combato

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Bill Underwood (The “Little Giant Killer”) was Canada’s top Unarmed Combat Instructor in WWII. It was Bill who created the basis for Canadian Forces Unarmed Combat by way of his system known as ”Combato”. His system known as “Defendo” became a foundation for many Canadian and American Law Enforcement Agencies. All things considered his life work is truly Canada’s contribution to the world of unarmed combat and the martial arts. Defendo was created and developed in Canada, was used in defense of the nation and played a significant role in it’s Law Enforcement history. Underwood’s Defendo even played a noted role in Canada’s pop culture. Little Bill was a guest on “The Johnny Carson Show” 4 times, once as an 85 year old controlling the Incredible Hulk himself, Mr. Lou Ferrigno. Bill was also the subject of a short film which in 1981 was nominated for an Oscar at the 53rd Academy Awards. Mr. Underwood was a fascinating and talented man with an incredible story. Who was Bill Underwood? The five foot, 2 inches, gentle looking man called the "Human Atomic Bomb"- "Mighty Atom" - "Little Giant Killer" as a 12 year old boy in 1907, made after school pocket money selling programmes at the Vaudeville Pavilion Theatre. As a child Bill was a friend of great performers like the legendary Harry Houdini, Buffalo Bill Cody and Charlie Chaplin. Most are unaware of the fact that it was Bill Underwood who was standing at Harry Houdini's side on McGill Campus in Montreal in 1926, when Harry received the punch to the stomach that would soon after end his life. Periodically on the Vaudeville circuit Japanese Jiu-Jitsu experts would demonstrate their incredible abilities on the local stage. Crowds would be amazed while watching small Japanese men nightly throwing big muscle-men around the stage like rag dolls. Between acts backstage Bill developed a friendship with world famous Jiu-Jitsu experts Yukio Tani and Tara Maki and they began to teach him in a short period of time some of the basic techniques of their craft. Unbeknown to anyone, Bill was a prodigy in the making. With limited exposure to his instructors he began to develop and build immediately upon some of the techniques he had learned and evolved them into what would become a unique, improved system. In 1914 Bill went overseas with the Grenadier Guards of the Royal Montreal Regiment. He continued to develop his fighting system and extricated himself from numerous life and death situations during the war using his Combato. In full hand-to-hand fighting mode he escaped the Germans at Ypres on foot, following the first gas attack in April, 1915. The next year, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot and learned gunnery from Canada's Billy Bishop, and he became friends with Roy Brown - the Canadian pilot who is credited with shooting down the Red Baron. In 1940, at the beginning of WWII, Bill attempted to enlist in active duty but due to his age he was turned down and he was told that this was a "young man's war". Bill was very patriotic and refused to let the issue go. He joined Toronto's Queens Own Rifle Reserve Unit and shortly after his arrival asked his superiors if they were interested in seeing the hand-to-hand combat system that he had developed. Bill was in his late 40's and was a little rotund and he was taken with a slight degree of skepticism. Bill simply asked them to provide a handful of their toughest young men and he would take care of them. At an Army Camp in Long Branch (Etobicoke, Toronto) he put three of their biggest soldiers (all with wrestling experience) into the hospital. His fighting system known as "Combato" had officially made its debut. Underwood's superiors were amazed at his skill and the techniques he created and word spread very quickly through the Canadian Forces. Underwood was immediately requested to begin training men in the Canadian Army, Navy, and Air Force at training camps throughout the country. Underwood, being a reservist and very patriotic, refused to take regular pay for his services but received income from the sale of his first two books "Combato: For Soldier and Civilian" (1943) and "Combato: Self-Defense for Women" (1944) As Captain William Fairbairn was teaching his unarmed combat (CQC) to British Forces word of Underwood's work was quickly spreading to American Forces. The timing of Underwood's contributions were paramount. North American Forces did not have a fighting system to "combat" the Japanese Jiu-Jitsu and wartime Judo they were facing in the Pacific Theatre. Underwood was requested to come to the USA and teach the American's top Special Forces unit at the time... The American Rangers. Underwood moved to New York City and taught the American Rangers at Camp Butler. During this time Underwood began to travel within the USA. Among many engagements, Bill demonstrated his fighting system at U.S.A. shows and at the famous Stage Door Canteen. Underwood's time in the USA and involvement with the American Rangers opened the door for him to be interviewed by the Pentagon. Underwood began to provide combat instruction for the FBI and related Intelligence Units and Services. At this time Canadian Sir William Stevenson (The Man Called Intrepid) had been secretly working for Sir Winston Churchill in establishing the British Security Coordination (BSC), a top-secret British Intelligence division based in the Rockefeller Centre in New York which was also associated to the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) The FBI and BSC were connected as the BSC assisted in the FBI's development. The Underwood family has distinct memories of Bill being at the centre for meetings and work which they were completely unaware of. Under Intrepid and the BSC and because of his involvement with American Intelligence and Canadian and American military forces Underwood was commissioned to give combat instruction to unconventional forces at the Special Operations Executive's S.T.S.# 103 a.k.a. Camp-X...the very camp Ian Fleming trained at as a Spy and created his beloved character James Bond. Fleming modeled his character after Canadian Sir William Stevenson - Intrepid. Camp-X, located in Ontario, was the most critical Special Training School for the SOE outside of Europe. Underwood trained Spies and Assassins at the Camp and off-site at classified temporary training locations. Amongst his activities with the BSC and SOE he trained highly specialized Assassination Squads of 6 team members. One such unit was known by some as "The Super Six". Their key objective was to be dropped behind enemy lines on a one way assassination mission to remove Hitler himself. Apparently, German Intelligence got word of the plan and began to issue Hitler look-a-likes to make things difficult. The teams primary objective was abandoned and its members were re-assigned to seek and terminate German Intelligence Agents on the east coast of Canada and the United States. The infamous British double agent, radio personality Lord Hawhaw apparently leaked the name of one of the team member’s true identities and German Intelligence dispatched assassins to eliminate him. He was evacuated from the region. Shortly after the team was disbanded and team members were isolated from service and knowledge of their existence and objectives was denied. After the war in 1945 Underwood began to receive requests from North American Law Enforcement Agencies to teach their officers Combato. Underwood refused, as the nature of Combato was far too aggressive. He was then asked if he could modify his system to incorporate more of a defensive posture and include compliance and escort techniques. Since some of Bill's Combato had focused on fast joint locking it was a perfect fit. At a dinner table conversation on VJ day in 1945 Bill was expressing his bewilderment at what to call his new system. It was his daughter Pat (who is still with us today) who piped-up and said, "Well Dad... if you called your fighting system Combato and your new system is about defending people... why don't you call it "Defendo?" Thanks to Pat the name stuck. Bill gave his first demonstrations and instruction to Butler, New Jersey and New York City Police Officers and requests and training only grew from that point forward.