This week we’re reading ‘The Road to Kalamata’ by “Mad” Mike Hoare. This is Hoare’s personal account of what it was like as a mercenary for the Katanga secessionists in the early 1960’s. Hoare exposes us to the logistical challenges, camaraderie, mortal ambivalence, and appeal of the mercenary life while dodging Baluba ambushes, escaping arrest by the U.N, and leading men through the Congo bush.
Between events, Hoare gives us some insight into his own thoughts. How he understands the Katanga secession, the death of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, how the U.N peacekeeping forces are deployed and operated, among other musings.
Hoare writes in a muscular style that doesn’t try to do more than it should, and frames his memoir as a story. We are introduced to the men of his unit 4 Commando, their training regiment and mission, their trek from the training base to a strategic location, and their run in with the U.N Peacekeeping mission. While the U.N is trying to arrest 4 Commando two of his men, Simon Donaldson and Ted Mackay, are separated from the group and are lost in Baluba territory. The second half of the memoir is the story of how Hoare and Simon’s wealthy father search for Simon and Ted and eventually discover their death, both that it happened and it’s brutal manner.
