William E. Fairbairn
February 28, 1885 – June 20, 1960

• 1901 – British Royal Marine
• Police Officer
• 1907 – Shanghai Police during the interwar period
• 1941 – Trained allied special forces during World War II
• Received the U.S. Legion of Merit (Officer grade)
  at the request of OSS-founder “Wild Bill” Donovan
• 1951 – Firearms Instructor

Developed hand-to-hand combat methods
1926 – Created his own fighting system known as Defendu
included innovative pistol shooting techniques

1941 – Developed the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife