Signed: Congo Mercenary - Mike Hoare

2008 paperback edition with 318 pages brand new and unread. Signed by author on title page. R46 postage in SA.  Hoare is now 97 years old and lives in South Africa.

Hoare was born in Ireland. He spent his early days in India and was educated in England. He served in North Africa and Italy as an officer in the London Irish Rifles during World War II, and achieved the rank of Captain. After the war, he completed his training as a chartered accountant, and qualified in 1948. He emigrated to Durban, Natal Province, Union of South Africa, where he ran safaris and became a soldier-for-hire in various African countries.Congo crisis - During the Congo Crisis Mike Hoare organized and led two separate mercenary groups:1960¿1961. Major Mike Hoare's first mercenary action was in Katanga, a province trying to break away from the newly independent Congo. The unit was called 4 Commando. During this time he married Phyllis Simms, an airline stewardess.1964. Congolese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe hired Major Mike Hoare to lead a military unit called 5 Commando ANC (later led by John Peters) 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. Hoare was later promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in the ANC and 5 Commando expanded into a two-battalion force. Hoare commanded 5 Commando from July 1964 to November 1965.