Johnny Hopper
Johnny Hopper was a partisan during the Occupation of France in the 1940's. He changed from being a mild mannered mushroom farmer to a killer of Nazi's when he and his family were trapped by the German occupation. He never carried less than 2 and often had as many as 6 pistols on his person. Hopper was once ambushed by the Chief of Police in Caan. The Chief had (according to the newspaper) a dozen men with him. Hopper pulled his pistol, killed the Chief of Police, jumped on a nearby bicycle and made a clean getaway. In an indignant reply to the newspaper a few days later, one of the original ambushers claimed there had not been 12 but only 3 with the Chief when Hopper shot his way clear.
I first read his story in the Smithsonian (Vol. 24, Number 3, Sept. 1993) years ago. The author found him living in England and interviewed him. The stories of his escapades were quite amazing. He recounted shooting a French Policeman in the head with small gun. It only wounded the Policeman so Hopper drove him to the hospital and let him go after warning him that he would hunt him down if he turned him in. He told the author, "Never shoot a man in the head with a small caliber weapon!"
His children were smuggled out of France during the war when things got too risky. His son said the last time he saw his father until after the war was when he heard a noise outside the door of his second floor bedroom. He opened the door to see his Dad setting up a machine gun on the landing. His Dad told him to get back in his room. Just after that a squad of German soldiers broke in the front door and his Dad got them all.
Hopper said he and his wife made a pact that if one of them was wounded so badly they could not escape, then the other would kill them to keep them from being captured. Later, in a shoot-out in a cafe, his wife was mortally wounded and Hopper kept his part of the pact. He said it haunted him all his life.
He was eventually captured and spent the rest of the war in German concentration camps, nearly dying before the Allies liberated the camps. His story is quite fascinating. You can read more about him in this article -
http://www.conscript-heroes.com/Art13-Johnny-Hopper-960.html?LMCL=KL2y7A