Mad Mike in the Congo

[pete]

Hi guys,

Does anyone own any original Militaria from the Mad Mike Hoare exploits or other info?






Best,

Pete

[C.O.Sargent]

Hi Pete,
If you are looking for a camo uniform there is a place call "The War Store" that you might want to look in to.
Cheers Chris.

[pete]

.

Thanks,

Has there been any known effort to reproduce these badges and insignia? I would love to see photos of those uniforms and insignia in wear.





Best,

Pete

[C.O.Sargent]

Hi Pete,
If you are talking about the Wild Geese 5th Commando patch yes there are copies out there of them.
Cheers Chris.

[zvezdah1]

Hi Pete,
If you are talking about the Wild Geese 5th Commando patch yes there are copies out there of them.
Cheers Chris.

In the late 70s Mike Hoare actually was selling the 5th Commando tab patch, the one with the goose on it. They were of current manufacture at the time and as I recall they were khaki with blue lettering and a red goose.

Chris

[pete]

.

I figured that this stuff was copied by now. Pointless to buy without provenance then in that case.



Best,

Pete

[NKOMO]

Somewhere in my collection, I have a jacket that was supposedly worn by one of the men with Mike Hoare. I say supposedly because I can't prove it. However, with as damaged as the piece is and with the other items the seller had on the table, the story makes sense.
Arch

[zvezdah1]

Still kicking myself, in the late 70s while spending some time in southern africa was given a south african made shirt with a gold wire bullion arm badge for the Katanga Gendarmes, later gave it to a friend of mine and he since traded it to someone else, been kicking myself ever since. Only piece of legitimate Congo stuff I've seen.

Chris

[pete]

.

...I am skeptical of the originality and provenance of some of it. The thing to get would be Muellers Iron cross from south africa....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rf_vulEuSw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQikQ...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT1sG9Nmz3w

This one is apparently coming out soon, will be interesting to see. I will admit at least for me my walter mitty detector is making a reading but as i say will be interesting to view the finnished product if it is legit.

http://www.davetuckerfilms.com/congo.html



Best,

Pete

[camerone54]

In the heritage of a former french foreign legionnaire I found a patch, which seems to be an original from Bob Denards 6° Commando:

Denard wearing the patch:


Any comments are welcome

[4thComKatanga]

Katanga

[QUOTE=pete;2640150]Hi guys,

Does anyone own any original Militaria from the Mad Mike Hoare exploits or other info?






Best,

Pete
if you have a facebook account I can add you to our "private group" of the 5th commando Katanga history group. We are ALL a kind of members of the different groups of that time. To join me please search under my facebook name "Victor Rosez" and make a friend request.
gr
4thComKatanga
Victor Rosez

[Alan Wilson]

Picked this 5 Commando blazer patch up some time ago. It appears from the period but whose to say. I have not seen another one. Alan

[peter monahan]

No disrespect to the serious collectors, but personally I think A LOT of the 'mercenary militraia' is Walter Mitty stuff, cocked up later to make $$. These were not well organized military units, and despite the movies, many of the mercs were not ex-military either. In fact, a good number were loose characters and losers who wanted the money, the loot and a chance to shoot at stuff [and people]. Read the accounts of what Hoare did to keep discipline and the UN accounts of looting and other war crimes for a truer picture than Hollywood ever offers.

Hoare, like a lot of his type, may have been a pretty good soldier but was certainly a great self-promoter, as evidenced among other things by his continued sale of the patches! A quick look at over 50 period photos of 5 commando men shows one man in one photo wearing any sleeve patch. Even Hoare wears only rank tabs in most shots of him. [Most of the photos are from this site and seem authentic to me: http://www.mercenary-wars.net/congo/abie-britz.html]

I suspect that patches came late or even after the conflict - way lower on the supply priority list than ammo, petrol, food and whiskey! Just saying!
I'd be very interested in seeing shots of Hoare or Denard's men wearing unti insignia, however. Any pointers?

Peter

[byterock]

...
Hoare, like a lot of his type, may have been a pretty good soldier but was certainly a great self-promoter,..
Peter

Well I agree a great self promoter but never ever 'a pretty good soldier' He never saw combat in WWII as he was a junior accounting officer in the 8th army, and for a very short time was on Mountbatten's staff.

Most-likely he only ever commanded where a bunch of pencils, a few rubber stamps, ledgers and the batman he shared with 1 other officer.

He did have a talent for handling money (he was an accountant after all ) and some skill in difficult logistics most likely gained while running his safari and used car business.

In 1990 I did try to do a sit down interview back in him, but in our one phone call he wanted cash up front and seemed more interested in trying to get me to promote his latest book back in Canada, He abruptly ended the call and passed me to his daughter to arrange the details.

She would no allow be to interview him as 'he was not himself'.

Yes he is still alive, living in Ireland and from what I heard later is suffering from dementia.