THE LEGENDARY MERCENARY "MAD MIKE” HOARE, AND HIS "WILD GEESE.” This particular pin, if I'm correct, comes from the legendary mercenary "Mad Mike” Hoare, and his "Wild Geese.” His unit of mercenaries fought in the Congo, where some called his tactics murder, but the number of missionaries and western's he was able to save is undisputable. Years later, when his unit (which was indeed called the Wild Geese) attempted a takeover of a small communist isle (for money of course, and I believe it was in the Seychelles), a new soldier tipped their hands at the airport. They were ultimately arrested, and his associates/friends decided to raise bail (or more accurately, bribes for his release). I purchased an "honorary membership" in the Wild Geese, knowing exactly what my money was going for, and I still have the certificate today. The pin is nearly identical, and I theorize part of the fundraising effort I was unaware of (or maybe even a commemorative for the members and friends). The only differences I can see between the certificate logo (which I know is accurate) is the bird's head on the certificate has a white blotch on its neck, and a smaller one at the end of its beak. Also, there are six palm trees, and I see four on the pin. The island, however, is placed in the same spot. The font and letters appear identical, as does the wing placement. I think it's Col. Mike Hoare's work, or those who surrounded him. Quote by promission from G.J. Sagi, VP, Western Outdoor Writers.
Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare (born 17 March 1919) is a British mercenary leader and adventurer known for military activities in Africa and his attempt to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles. He turned 100 years old in 2019, despite his lifelong philosophy that 'you get more out of life by living dangerously'. His son Chris Hoare wrote a biography on Mike Hoare's life of derring do. It is titled 'Mad Mike' Hoare: The Legend. Hoare was born in British India[1] and was educated in England. He joined the London Irish Rifles at the outbreak of World War II, and served as an officer in India and Burma. He was promoted to the rank of major. After the war, he trained as a chartered accountant, qualifying in 1948.[2] He subsequently emigrated to Durban, Natal Province in the Union of South Africa, where he later ran safaris and became a soldier-for-hire in various African countries. Mike Hoare led two separate mercenary groups during the Congo Crisis. Mike Hoare's first mercenary action was in 1961 in Katanga, a province trying to break away from the newly independent Republic of the Congo. His unit was called "4 Commando". During this time he married Phyllis Sims, an airline stewardess. In 1964, Congolese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe, his employer in Katanga, hired Major Mike Hoare to lead a military unit called 5 Commando, Armée Nationale Congolaise (5 Commando ANC) (later led by John Peters;[3] not to be confused with No.5 Commando, the British Second World War commando force) made up of about 300 men most of whom were from South Africa. His second-in-command was a fellow ex-British Army officer, Commandant Alistair Wicks. The unit's mission was to fight a revolt known as the Simba rebellion. Later Hoare and his mercenaries worked in concert with Belgian paratroopers, Cuban exile pilots, and CIA-hired mercenaries who attempted to save 1,600 civilians (mostly Europeans and missionaries) in Stanleyville from the Simba rebels in Operation Dragon Rouge. This operation saved many lives.[4] Hoare was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the Armée Nationale Congolaise and 5 Commando expanded into a two-battalion force. Hoare commanded 5 Commando from July 1964 to November 1965. Speaking on the conflict, he said, "I had wanted nothing so much as to have 5 Commando known as an integral part of the ANC, a 5 Commando destined to strike a blow to rid the Congo of the greatest cancer the world has ever known—the creeping, insidious disease of communism.” Later, Hoare wrote his own account of 5 Commando's role in the 1960s Congo mercenary war, originally titled Congo Mercenary[7] and much later repeatedly republished in paperback simply as Mercenary (subtitled "The Classic Account of Mercenary Warfare"). In the mid-1970s, Hoare was hired as technical adviser for the film The Wild Geese, the fictional story of a group of mercenary soldiers hired to rescue a deposed African president. Colonel Alan Faulkner (played by Richard Burton) was patterned on Hoare. At least one of the actors in the film, Ian Yule, had been a mercenary under Hoare's command, before which he had served in the British Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service (SAS).[8] Of the actors playing mercenaries, four had been born in Africa, two were former POWs and most had received military training.
Hoare's first mercenary action was in 1961 in Katanga, a province trying to break away from the newly independent Republic of the Congo. His unit was called "4 Commando". Hoare relished the macho camaraderie and the chaos of war, telling one journalist "you can't win a war with choirboys". During this time he married Phyllis Sims, an airline stewardess.
Simba rebellion: In 1964, Congolese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe, his employer in Katanga, hired Hoare to lead a military unit called 5 Commando, Armée Nationale Congolaise 5 Commando (later led by John Peters; not to be confused with No.5 Commando, the British Second World War commando force) made up of about 300 men, most of whom were from South Africa. His second-in-command was a fellow ex-British Army officer, Commandant Alistair Wicks. The unit's mission was to fight a revolt known as the Simba rebellion.[14] Tshombe distrusted General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, the commander of the Armée Nationale Congolaise who had already carried two coups, and preferred to keep the Congolese Army weak even in the face of the Simba rebellion. Hence, Tshmobe turned to mercenaries who already fought for him in Katanga to provide a professional military force. To recruit his force, Hoare placed newspaper ads in Johannesburg and Salisbury (modern Harare, Zimbabwe) calling upon physically fit white men capable of marching 20 miles per day who were fond of combat and were "tremendous romantics" to join 5 Commando.[5] The moniker Mad Mike which was given to him by the British press suggested a "wildman" leader, but in fact Hoare was a very strict leader who insisted the men of 5 Commando always be clean-shaven, keep their hair cut short, never swear and attend church services every Sunday. The men of 5 Commando were entirely white and consisted of a "ragbag of misfits" upon whom he imposed stern discipline.[5] 5 Commando was a mixture of South Africans, Rhodesians, British, Belgians, and Germans, of which the latter were mostly Second World War veterans who arrived in the Congo wearing Iron Crosses. Racist views towards blacks were very common in 5 Commando, but in press interviews, Hoare denied allegations of atrocities against the Congolese. To the press, Hoare insisted that the 5 Commando were not mercenaries, but rather "volunteers" who were waging an idealistic struggle against Communism in the Congo.[5] Tshombe paid the men of 5 Commando a sum of money equal to $1,100 U.S dollars per month.[5] Hoare always argued that he was a "romantic" who was fighting in the Congo for martial "glory", and insisted that for him the money was irrelevant.[5] Whatever may have been Hoare's motivation, his men showed rapacious greed in the Congo, being noted for their looting and a tendency to steal equipment from the United Nations forces in the Congo. Reflecting his pride in his Irish heritage, Hoare adopted a flying goose as the symbol of 5 Commando and called his men the Wild Geese after the famous Irish soldiers who fought for the Stuarts in exile in the 17th and 18th centuries. Hoare was known for coolness and courage under fire as he believed that the best way to inspire his men, some of whom wilted under fire, was to lead from the front. He crushed a mutiny in his commando by pistol-whipping the leader of the mutiny. Hoare led his men south and then turned north in a swiftly moving offensive, supported with aircraft flown by Cuban emigres. A particular specialty for Hoare was hijacking boats to take up the Congo river as he set about rescuing hostages from the Simbas.[5] The Simbas were badly disciplined, poorly trained, and often not armed with modern weapons, and for all these reasons, the well-armed, -trained, and -disciplined 5 Commando had a shattering impact on the Simba rebellion. The British journalist A.J. Venter who covered the Congo crisis wrote as Hoare advanced, "the fighting grew progressively more brutal" with few prisoners taken. Hoare's advance was aided by the fact that the roads in the Congo left over from Belgian colonial rule were still usable in 1964-65. Hoare's men tended to collect the heads of Simbas and stick them to the sides of their jeeps. Later Hoare and his mercenaries worked in concert with Belgian paratroopers, Cuban exile pilots, and CIA-hired mercenaries who attempted to save 1,600 civilians (mostly Europeans and missionaries) in Stanleyville (modern Kisangani, Congo) from the Simba rebels in Operation Dragon Rouge. This operation saved many lives. Hoare and the 5 Commando are estimated to have saved the lives of 2,000 Europeans taken hostage by the Simbas, which made him famous around the world Many of the hostages had been so badly treated as to barely resemble humans, which added to the fame of Hoare, who was presented in the Western press as a hero. He wrote about Stanleyville under the Simbas: "The mayor of Stanleyville, Sylvere Bondekwe, a greatly respected and powerful man, was forced to stand naked before a frenzied crowd of Simbas while one of them cut out his liver."[19] About Operation Dragon Rouge, he wrote: "Taking Stanleyville was the greatest achievement of the Wild Geese. There is only so much 300 men can do, but here we were, part of a very big push and clearing the rebels out of Stan was a major victory for our side."[ Hoare did not stop his men from sacking Stanleyville as the 5 Commando blew up the vaults of every bank and cleared out the alcohol in every bar in the city. Hoare was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the Armée Nationale Congolaise and 5 Commando expanded into a two-battalion force. Hoare commanded 5 Commando from July 1964 to November 1965. After completing his service, he told the media that he estimated that 5 Commando had killed between 5,000-10,000 Simbas. The Simbas had been advised by Cuban officers, and one of them was the Argentine Communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, which led to Hoare to claim he was the first man to have defeated Che Guevara. Speaking on the conflict, he said, "I had wanted nothing so much as to have 5 Commando known as an integral part of the ANC, a 5 Commando destined to strike a blow to rid the Congo of the greatest cancer the world has ever known—the creeping, insidious disease of communism". After returning to South Africa, Hoare told the media that "killing communists is like killing vermin, killing African nationalists is as if one is killing an animal. My men and I have killed between 5,000-10,000 Congo rebels in the 20 months that I have spent in the Congo. But that’s not enough. There are 20 million Congolese you know, and I assume that about half of them at one time or another were rebels whilst I was down here." Later, Hoare wrote his own account of 5 Commando's role in the 1960s Congo mercenary war, originally titled Congo Mercenary and much later repeatedly republished in paperback simply as Mercenary (subtitled "The Classic Account of Mercenary Warfare"). The exploits of Hoare and 5 Commando in the Congo were much celebrated for decades afterward and helped contribute significantly to the glorification of the mercenary lifestyle in magazines such as Soldier of Fortune together with countless pulp novels that featured heroes clearly modeled after Hoare. The popular image of mercenaries fighting in Africa in the 1960s to the present is that of a macho adventurers defiantly living life on their own terms together with much drinking and womanizing mixed in with hair-raising adventures.
