Churchill’s military career began after Sandhurst when he worked as an army officer and war correspondent in South Africa. The British were at war with the Boers, the descendants of Dutch settlers. The enemy captured Churchill and put him in a POW camp, where he later escaped. He took refuge with a British coal mine manager, who arranged for the young soldier to return to England. His harrowing escape made him famous back home and marked a turning point in his life.