May 2, 2026 • 25 mins
In this week's Classic episode: Bill Speakman, better known as the “Beer Bottle VC”, single-handedly took on a brigade of Chinese People’s Army Infantry in four hours of close-quarters combat. As he ran out of actual weapons, he began throwing beer bottles -- and, somehow, survived. Tune in to learn more about Big Bill Speakman, the Beer Bottle VC (and learn why he came to hate this nickname).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fellow ridiculous historians, we are returning to you just all
twitter painted to tell you a weird story about a
long time obsession. You guys, remember the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea DPRK or North Korea?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How could I forget those upstarts, those scamps?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Right? Yeah? Yeah? The Kim dynasty is a continuing force
in the world today and there have been a lot
of terrifying, very strange situations. There's a lot of ridiculous
history to the DPRK or North Korea. But this week's
(00:41):
classic episode concerns a guy named Bill Speakman spelled like
it sounds, who got into a situation in North Korea
and had to throw beer at people or beer bottles,
empty bottles, like you do? Is that what you do?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah? Man, someone displeases me, you throw an empty beer bottle? Absolutely,
Sometimes I smash it and then brandish the broken end
at them.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You don't even drink beer. Where are you getting all these.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Books talking about I like beer. I'll have a beer.
I'll down a beer with the boys at the pub
of a night out.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
And so this guy Bill's Speakman, as you know what,
I don't even want to spoil it. Let's just roll
the tape. Ridiculous History is a production of iHeart Radio.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeart Radio. On Young Hazio. Everybody,
(02:02):
welcome to Ridiculous History. I'm Ben Mushi Moushi. My name
is Nol and yes, this is indeed Ridiculous History. And
I know that was the incorrect greeting. You set up
the theme correctly with your greeting, and you said it beautifully.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Ben on Young Asio, I said it terribly. Oh did
I say it better? No, no, nosh. It turns out
that neither of us speak Korea, and that's true. Is
that gonna be a problem for today's episode.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be. Did I tell you
that story of the last time I was in Korea?
I went, so, I was walking around, right, and I'm
in Soul and everybody is very everybody's very friendly. Walk
into a shop and well dressed. I hear as well, right, right,
and yes, very much so. And people with shop owners
(02:48):
or shop employees when you walk in, they greet you,
they say hello on Young Hasio, and they say it
usually in a loud, strident tone. And I thought I
was saying whatever The proper response was, so I walk in,
these people would say hello, and then I would say
I would do my bit in Korea, which I do
not speak, and then they would switch to English and
ask me, you know, if I needed help, if it
(03:10):
needs to look for anything, And I thought, okay, sure,
My Korean's admittedly garbage. It wasn't until I was driving back,
or I was riding back to the airport when the
cab driver asked me had I learned any Korean? And
was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I know this, and I
know this and when people say hello, I say this
and he stops and he goes, oh, man, you.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Haven't been like doing that, have you?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
He said, do you know what that means?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So what?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
And he said it means where am I? So I
was walking in, people were saying hello, and I was
waving at them and going where am I?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And that's why they switched you Like this man has
had an af fugue state of some sort. He is
confused and stumbling around and doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But what an adventure. And despite our mutual lack of
fluency in the Korean language, We're still going to have
a great time with today's story. Oh, we should also
mention super producer Casey Pegram.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Is here always.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't know why I did that, like a late
show intro. We've got a great show for you today, folks.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Exactly. I love it. He's always here. He's a staple.
When he's not here, I dialute.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Inside a little each time when he cries.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So, no, we're mentioning Korea. Not for nothing. We're mentioning
Korea because it is part of our story. Today's story
is about a war hero, right, Yeah, can I say
badass on air?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I think he can? Then, Okay, I think you can.
We think you just did.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
We've been going back and forth off air before about
whether we can say the three we agreed on if
I remember what were they? So there was ass?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Oh mean we're gonna just lay them all out? Huh damn?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
And hell? Shall we save those? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean, I don't know those I think are approved.
But when you say him all in a row like that,
it seems a little blue. Ben seems a little blue.
Oh I'm sorry, Yeah, we went blue. We went blue.
You never go blue. Once you go blue. We should
just do the episode. So yeah, it's about a kind
of an unconventional war hero, a badass, and his particular
flavor of badassery involved single handedly, largely single handedly, fending
(05:19):
off a wave of Chinese forces that were coming at
him with all they had, with all their mind.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yes, the story of William Speakman, known as Bill to
his friends, Big Bill to his close friends. Big Bill Speakman.
Big Bill Speakman was born on September twenty seventh, nineteen
twenty seven, in Cheshire. He was one of those kids
who always wanted to grow up and be a soldier,
and growing up, a lot of us, regardless of where
(05:46):
we live in the world, a lot of us have
known children like that. When he was a teenager, he
was watching the British forces in the Allies take on
Axis powers. This inspired him. He joined the army in
nineteen four, which means that he just barely missed the
conflicts of World War two.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah. He was also part of an admittedly like Game
of Thrones esque sounding order called the Black Watch Royal
Highland Regiment, and then, as was his wish, he ended
up joining the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and that is
the outfit that he served with in Korea.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
The King's Own Scottish Borderers. Does sound like a band name, really,
does you know? So Bill Big Bill goes to the
Korean Peninsula to take part in the Korean War. What's
the Korean War? Great question? The Korean War is this
back and forth struggle that has not yet officially ended.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Which is crazy to me. It was a ceasefire, right
and they have you know, they have consistently not fired,
but there was no formal peace treaty. And it was
a war that had so many ideological you know, underpinnings
because it was essentially this conflict between communism and capitalism,
and the United States gun involved because it was they
(07:08):
looked at it as very much a war against the
forces of communism, this ideological war. And then the in
China has always been a staunch supporter of North Korea.
And even though that makes for some funny bedfellows with
us in China and our relationship with them, and that's
one of the reasons we can't just go in to
North Korea and mess things up because that would totally
(07:29):
torpedo our relationship with China and we can't have that.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, this was a proxy war also called a limited war,
wherein the superpowers of the world picked a third country
so that they weren't waging actual war on each other's soil,
and they fought their war there. Terrible, terrible thing for
the people who live in that third country.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So this war began June twenty fifth, nineteen fifty, and
it went back and forth for a time. The South
Korean forces were on the precipice of losing this struggle.
In October of nineteen fifty, hundreds of thousands of Chinese
soldiers entered the border, and the capital of Korea, Seul,
(08:15):
would change hands what four times during the struggle?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, And what is the thirty eighth parallel, ben That's
a great question. The thirty eighth Parallel existed originally as
the boundary between the Soviet and American occupation zones in Japan,
but in nineteen forty eight it also became the boundary
(08:40):
between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK aka North
Korea and the ROK or South Korea. At the time,
as you know, they both claimed to be the legitimate
governments of the entire peninsula. And this changed a little
bit when they signed their armistice agreement in nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, we'll get into that later. The important part is,
as we've established that the thirty eighth parallel is where
things reached stalemate.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Enter Big Bill Speakman. He's twenty four years old. He's
full of vim vigor, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and thirsty
to serve his country. So, as we said, he volunteers
in Korea. And when he is volunteering to engage in
this conflict, it's still very much anyone's game. It's going
(09:33):
back and fourth Soul is being captured, recaptured, and he
transfers to what was the name of that group you
mentioned earlier, the King's own Scottish Borderers, So he transfers
to them expressly to join the fight in Korea. He
wants to see actual field service.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And boy does he ever, because in nineteen fifty one,
Speakman's battalion was up defending a posi on Maryang San
in Korea, and that is when six thousand Chinese soldiers
laid siege, and we're trying to remove them from that
position and take over.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So let's set the stage. It's the early hours of
November fourth, the defending battalion is coming under increasingly aggressive
and dangerous mortar fire and artillery. And that is followed
by a wave of Chinese troops advancing from their positions.
They attacked the Commonwealth trenches and by a little bit
(10:40):
before six in the morning, five forty five or so,
the sides have entered Malay hand to hand combat.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, I'm confused about this. So why were they doing
hand to hand combat? Why weren't they shooting at each other?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Because they got close enough to So the mortar fire
and the artillery, it's smacking the tar out of the
Commonwealth troops, got it. And while they're on the defensive,
the soldiers are getting close enough to This is trench warfare.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It's essentially like that going over the top kind of situation,
right right.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So they couldn't shoot from you know, from like a
rifle position, an individual walking position, you can't shoot into
the trench easily.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
That makes sense. So when we say hand to hand,
we are talking largely about I mean just that there's
fists involved, there's hand grenades involved, knives, knives, there's chucking
anything that you can get your hands on involved, and
that that becomes a big part of the story.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So Private Big Bill Speakman is prepping hand grenades when
he hears a message over the radio saying that two
groups have been overrun two platoons and that the ridge
may fall into enemy hands. So he gets the band
back together. He gathers up whomever's closest to him, hands
(12:03):
out grenades and says, let's go.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
And there's this quote in an article from The Independent
that has Speakman describing the scene like this. He says,
it was hand to hand. There was no time to
pull back the bolt of the rifle. It was November,
the ground was hard, so grenades bounced and did damage.
It makes you think of like a video game called
border Lands, where you could get different mods for your grenades,
(12:27):
and one of them made them like bouncing grenades, so
they would like literally bounce off of things and then
explode continuously. I know this is not the kind of
sci fi situation that's going on here, but what would
why would a bouncing grenade do more damage? I'm trying
to picture that because it only blows up once.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
So I guess we're speculating when't say that the bounce
puts it in a different position, you know, sort of
like hitting hitting a cool trick shot on a pool table.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Maybe it gets it makes it go farther too. You
could literally bounce it off because the ground is cold
and frozen. You could bounce it off and then it
would go farther. Yes, and if you're just fucking tons
of them, then it would just create absolute havoc.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So he's got his group of six men who have
joined him in collecting piles of grenades and throwing them
right at the enemy forces. It's important to say that
speakman does this on his own initiative. He's not ordered
to do so. He gets hit in the leg because
war is an ugly, nasty, dangerous thing, but he keeps fighting,
(13:26):
and he holds back the Chinese forces long enough for
those platoons that were overrun to evacuate their wounded, and
he keeps going. We'll never know how long he would
keep going. He didn't stop until he was directly ordered
to get his leg looked at.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, But in the meantime, when they ran of grenades,
he started just grabbing whatever he could get his hands on.
And in these days, the troops were allowed to have
some beer, so they had a whole kind of pile
of empty beer bottles, and he was able to kind
of created diversion just by hurling beer bottles at the
(14:03):
oncoming opposition, and probably didn't actually kill anybody or hurt
anybody too badly, but it certainly would have been annoying
and certainly would.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Have caused a distraction, right, I mean, it's the thought
that counts right.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Absolutely reminds me of that story we did about the
Americans throwing potatoes at a U boat.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yep, Yep, that really happened. It was perhaps exaggerated in
later retellings, but it did happen. There's a great article
of war history online by Jeff Edwards about this story
about Big Bill's speakman, and it confirms that he did
indeed throw these beer bottles. This story gets a little
(14:43):
bit exaggerated sometimes because you'll hear people say that he
just started throwing everything he could hand grenades, beer bottles,
empty ration tens, pencils, small woodland creatures, kitchen silverware, cricket bats,
and his own well, well will edit this for the air,
his own blank meaty fist that comes from the great
(15:05):
website Badass of Theweek dot com, which I highly highly
highly recommend. He did throw more than grenades and more
than beer bottles too. They threw ration tons, they threw stones,
and this did work. The press loved this, by the way.
They started calling Bill Speakman the beer bottle VC. And
(15:27):
I don't know if I don't know if you saw
this partneral. He hated that nickname.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
What does VC mean? That's a big part of the
story too. That's the Victorian Cross.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Ah, yes, the Victorian Cross. Tell us a little bit
about that.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah. The Victorian Cross is the highest military honor in
the United Kingdom. It is awarded for unparalleled bravery in
the heat of battle and was first awarded in eighteen
fifty seven by Queen Victoria. She presented them to sixty
two soldiers in front of about one hundred thousand people
(16:01):
at Hyde Park and it has gone on to remain
the highest military honor that one can receive. And Bill
Speakman got it right away because the story caught the
public's imagination. He really was incredibly brave. And to hear
him talk about it, he's like, nah, you know, it
was just doing what I was trying to do.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So yeah, it's rarefied air. Indeed, the medal's been awarded
one thousand, three hundred and fifty eight times, but only
fifteen medals have been awarded since World War Two.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And if I'm not mistaken, this would have been the
first VC to be awarded by the current Queen Elizabeth
the second.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, that's correct. So he loved his country, loved being
a VC recipient. He did not care in any shape,
form or fashion to be referred to as the beer
bottle VC because he thought it made the army look bad.
He thought the implication people would get from this was
(17:04):
that he and his colleagues were drinking on the job
and they weren't weird. Fact, you know what they used
the beer for? No, they used it to cool down
gun barrels.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Apparently I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I did not know that either, and I still. I mean,
if you are listening and you were one of your
relatives was in the Korean War or associated with it,
let us know if that's true, because it sounds like
a convenient excuse, you know what I mean. Oh sorry, Serge,
we're not This beer isn't for drinking. These guns just
get so gosh darn hot.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Well it's true, though, Ben, they do get pretty hot.
And you know, these kind of situations require thinking on
your feet and using what you have around as evidenced
by this whole situation, which made him one of the
like a national hero basically. And he returned back to
his home town of Altrinsham in Cheshire, and he was beloved.
There was a parade for him before he got home home.
(18:00):
People had like cleaned his house for him, and he
was treated very differently and he didn't particularly care for it.
He did not adjust very well to life as a civilian,
and he re enlisted pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, yep. He went on to serve in the army
until nineteen sixty seven. He served in the Indonesia Confrontation,
the Aiden Emergency, the Malayan Emergency. In twenty fifteen, he
made a return trip to South Korea along with other
veterans of the war, and when he was there he
(18:33):
donated his Victoria Cross to South Korea. He believed it
started there and he thought it was sensible to.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Leave it there and believe he had a replica made
that he gave to North Korea.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Did the yeah, yeah, right, yep, because you know, you
want to be fair. What's interesting here is that the
Victoria Cross he donates to South kore is not a replica,
but it is a replacement, you see. Like so many
(19:06):
veterans of wars Speakman was lauded at the beginning, but
later fell on financial hardship right, and he sold his
original Victoria Cross, using the money to put a new
roof on his house and only later was given a
genuine replacement.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Not to mention that in nineteen sixty eight he was
actually given an absolute discharge from the service because he
was arrested in Edinburgh for stealing one hundred and four
pounds from a woman's purse. And it was likely only
his lauded military career that kept him out of jail, right.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And he was never really comfortable with this, this heroic image.
He wasn't comfortable being a walking icon. We've got a
quote from an interview he did with the BBC around
the time he went to Korea. He said, it started
to dawn on me as the days went by, stopping
in the street. No matter what where you went in Altrincham,
(20:08):
people were trying to do things for you. I didn't
realize why it's got the VC really because I only
did what the other guys did. We fought and that's
what we were trained to do. So he wasn't into
the you know, the ego boost the hero worship stuff,
and he didn't want people to think that he was
some raging, violent, drunk now carousing and careening throughout the
(20:33):
Korean War. He was a guy with a job and
he did it as seriously as he could, even when
that involved throwing rocks and stones and ration tins, which technically,
depending on whether the tens were empty or full, could
make this a food fight.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
That's very true. He only just recently passed away in
June of twenty eighteen at the age of ninety. He
had immigrated to South Africa several times and come back,
but then ultimately returned to the UK, to Chelsea, which
is where he passed away at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yes, it's a retirement home and nursing home for around
three hundred veterans of the British Army. And with the
passing of Bill Speakman, we see the end of his story,
his part, his small part of the Korean War, which
as we record this episode today still technically continues. The
(21:31):
two countries sharing that peninsula in East Asia have not
made peace, but it is an eternal hope for the
people and the governments of both sides. That was like
the safest, most diplomatic way to say it.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I think that's very smart to keep it. You know,
diplomacy is key here, Ben, diplomacy is key. And you've
been to South Korea twice.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, I am probably going back later this year.
Actually really, yeah, it's the thing now, big fan, all right,
I mean you just find yourself in situations.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, I guess so we'll make sure to bring me
another hat. That's become our tradition. Now.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, I'm glad you appreciate it. I did, yeah, very much.
So you got to go sometime if you get the chance,
I'll say it. I know this is the most square
thing to say about visiting a place. But the food
is amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, it looks like it every time you guys go.
I can't look away from the Instagram stories so much
delicious Korean barbecue.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
There's a new Korean barbecue place in Decatur as well,
down the street from where we record this podcast.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Is it legit?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, it's legit. Cool, it gets the stamp. What's it
called D ninety two? No idea where the name comes from.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Well, I'll have to check it. Out. I love a
good Korean barbecue and Ben, by the way, unrelated food related,
Happy National Burrito Day.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Thank you, You're welcome. I didn't want to have to
remind you, so I'm glad that you're saying it.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And thank god We've got leftover Chipotle in the office
today so I can honor this holiday with Gusto.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yes, yes, and we also work down the street from
a restaurant called.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Gusto and a restaurant called Chipotle.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
At a restaurant called Chipotle, Casey, Pegram are you are
you a fan of burritos?
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Love a good burrito?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
What would be your ideal burrito? I'm pretty weird about britos.
I do not pack my burrito with much of anything
other than guy. Yeah, exactly. I get like steak, rice, cheese,
and that's that's it.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I'm good. No beans, no no.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Beans, bean free, Casey, no beans, Pegrim on the case.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So this concludes our This concludes our episode, but not
our show. Thank you so much for tuning in. We
would like to hear your stories of unorthodox, strange, or
fascinating events in times of conflict. You know, whether from civilians,
(23:51):
whether from soldiers, whether your first hand experience a story
from one of your relatives. Hit us with it. You
can find us on Facebook. You can find us on Instagram.
We're also on in a stunning plot twist Twitter. It's
not really a stunning plot twist. That's kind of required, right, Yeah, yeah,
it's a standard operating procedure.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't really mess with Twitter. There's a whole language
and vocabulary surrounding Twitter that I am just blissfully ignorant to.
I am an Instagram kid, and you can follow me
if you'd like at Embryonic Insider.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
You can find me and my various misadventures getting kicked
in and kicked out of countries around the world on
Instagram at Ben Bollan. You can see me on Twitter
at Ben Bolan HSW. Most importantly, you can see our
favorite part of the show, you are fellow listeners, live
and direct on our Facebook page, Ridiculous Historians.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Thanks as always to our super producer Casey Pegram, Thanks
to Alex Williams, who composed our theme. Thanks to our
research associate Gabe Lucier.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Thanks to Bill Speakman, thanks to Christopher Haciotis, thanks to
whomever invented the burrito, and thanks to you, nol.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Hey Ben, thanks to you too, and thanks to our
next episode, which you can join us for talk about
weird Chinese cult surrounding a certain Jesus of Nazareth. Fellow
Yeah cults?
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh uh wait, are you thanking our episode?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I am in advance.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Okay, well, let's make it good.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
See you next time, folks. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. For more podcasts from
my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Fellow ridiculous historians, we are returning to you just all
twitter painted to tell you a weird story about a
long time obsession. You guys, remember the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea DPRK or North Korea?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How could I forget those upstarts, those scamps?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Right? Yeah? Yeah? The Kim dynasty is a continuing force
in the world today and there have been a lot
of terrifying, very strange situations. There's a lot of ridiculous
history to the DPRK or North Korea. But this week's
(00:41):
classic episode concerns a guy named Bill Speakman spelled like
it sounds, who got into a situation in North Korea
and had to throw beer at people or beer bottles,
empty bottles, like you do? Is that what you do?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah? Man, someone displeases me, you throw an empty beer bottle? Absolutely,
Sometimes I smash it and then brandish the broken end
at them.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You don't even drink beer. Where are you getting all these.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Books talking about I like beer. I'll have a beer.
I'll down a beer with the boys at the pub
of a night out.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
And so this guy Bill's Speakman, as you know what,
I don't even want to spoil it. Let's just roll
the tape. Ridiculous History is a production of iHeart Radio.
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeart Radio. On Young Hazio. Everybody,
(02:02):
welcome to Ridiculous History. I'm Ben Mushi Moushi. My name
is Nol and yes, this is indeed Ridiculous History. And
I know that was the incorrect greeting. You set up
the theme correctly with your greeting, and you said it beautifully.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Ben on Young Asio, I said it terribly. Oh did
I say it better? No, no, nosh. It turns out
that neither of us speak Korea, and that's true. Is
that gonna be a problem for today's episode.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be. Did I tell you
that story of the last time I was in Korea?
I went, so, I was walking around, right, and I'm
in Soul and everybody is very everybody's very friendly. Walk
into a shop and well dressed. I hear as well, right, right,
and yes, very much so. And people with shop owners
(02:48):
or shop employees when you walk in, they greet you,
they say hello on Young Hasio, and they say it
usually in a loud, strident tone. And I thought I
was saying whatever The proper response was, so I walk in,
these people would say hello, and then I would say
I would do my bit in Korea, which I do
not speak, and then they would switch to English and
ask me, you know, if I needed help, if it
(03:10):
needs to look for anything, And I thought, okay, sure,
My Korean's admittedly garbage. It wasn't until I was driving back,
or I was riding back to the airport when the
cab driver asked me had I learned any Korean? And
was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I know this, and I
know this and when people say hello, I say this
and he stops and he goes, oh, man, you.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Haven't been like doing that, have you?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
He said, do you know what that means?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So what?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
And he said it means where am I? So I
was walking in, people were saying hello, and I was
waving at them and going where am I?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And that's why they switched you Like this man has
had an af fugue state of some sort. He is
confused and stumbling around and doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But what an adventure. And despite our mutual lack of
fluency in the Korean language, We're still going to have
a great time with today's story. Oh, we should also
mention super producer Casey Pegram.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Is here always.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't know why I did that, like a late
show intro. We've got a great show for you today, folks.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Exactly. I love it. He's always here. He's a staple.
When he's not here, I dialute.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Inside a little each time when he cries.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So, no, we're mentioning Korea. Not for nothing. We're mentioning
Korea because it is part of our story. Today's story
is about a war hero, right, Yeah, can I say
badass on air?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I think he can? Then, Okay, I think you can.
We think you just did.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
We've been going back and forth off air before about
whether we can say the three we agreed on if
I remember what were they? So there was ass?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Oh mean we're gonna just lay them all out? Huh damn?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
And hell? Shall we save those? Well?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I mean, I don't know those I think are approved.
But when you say him all in a row like that,
it seems a little blue. Ben seems a little blue.
Oh I'm sorry, Yeah, we went blue. We went blue.
You never go blue. Once you go blue. We should
just do the episode. So yeah, it's about a kind
of an unconventional war hero, a badass, and his particular
flavor of badassery involved single handedly, largely single handedly, fending
(05:19):
off a wave of Chinese forces that were coming at
him with all they had, with all their mind.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yes, the story of William Speakman, known as Bill to
his friends, Big Bill to his close friends. Big Bill Speakman.
Big Bill Speakman was born on September twenty seventh, nineteen
twenty seven, in Cheshire. He was one of those kids
who always wanted to grow up and be a soldier,
and growing up, a lot of us, regardless of where
(05:46):
we live in the world, a lot of us have
known children like that. When he was a teenager, he
was watching the British forces in the Allies take on
Axis powers. This inspired him. He joined the army in
nineteen four, which means that he just barely missed the
conflicts of World War two.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah. He was also part of an admittedly like Game
of Thrones esque sounding order called the Black Watch Royal
Highland Regiment, and then, as was his wish, he ended
up joining the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and that is
the outfit that he served with in Korea.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
The King's Own Scottish Borderers. Does sound like a band name, really,
does you know? So Bill Big Bill goes to the
Korean Peninsula to take part in the Korean War. What's
the Korean War? Great question? The Korean War is this
back and forth struggle that has not yet officially ended.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Which is crazy to me. It was a ceasefire, right
and they have you know, they have consistently not fired,
but there was no formal peace treaty. And it was
a war that had so many ideological you know, underpinnings
because it was essentially this conflict between communism and capitalism,
and the United States gun involved because it was they
(07:08):
looked at it as very much a war against the
forces of communism, this ideological war. And then the in
China has always been a staunch supporter of North Korea.
And even though that makes for some funny bedfellows with
us in China and our relationship with them, and that's
one of the reasons we can't just go in to
North Korea and mess things up because that would totally
(07:29):
torpedo our relationship with China and we can't have that.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, this was a proxy war also called a limited war,
wherein the superpowers of the world picked a third country
so that they weren't waging actual war on each other's soil,
and they fought their war there. Terrible, terrible thing for
the people who live in that third country.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So this war began June twenty fifth, nineteen fifty, and
it went back and forth for a time. The South
Korean forces were on the precipice of losing this struggle.
In October of nineteen fifty, hundreds of thousands of Chinese
soldiers entered the border, and the capital of Korea, Seul,
(08:15):
would change hands what four times during the struggle?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, And what is the thirty eighth parallel, ben That's
a great question. The thirty eighth Parallel existed originally as
the boundary between the Soviet and American occupation zones in Japan,
but in nineteen forty eight it also became the boundary
(08:40):
between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK aka North
Korea and the ROK or South Korea. At the time,
as you know, they both claimed to be the legitimate
governments of the entire peninsula. And this changed a little
bit when they signed their armistice agreement in nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Well, we'll get into that later. The important part is,
as we've established that the thirty eighth parallel is where
things reached stalemate.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Enter Big Bill Speakman. He's twenty four years old. He's
full of vim vigor, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and thirsty
to serve his country. So, as we said, he volunteers
in Korea. And when he is volunteering to engage in
this conflict, it's still very much anyone's game. It's going
(09:33):
back and fourth Soul is being captured, recaptured, and he
transfers to what was the name of that group you
mentioned earlier, the King's own Scottish Borderers, So he transfers
to them expressly to join the fight in Korea. He
wants to see actual field service.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And boy does he ever, because in nineteen fifty one,
Speakman's battalion was up defending a posi on Maryang San
in Korea, and that is when six thousand Chinese soldiers
laid siege, and we're trying to remove them from that
position and take over.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So let's set the stage. It's the early hours of
November fourth, the defending battalion is coming under increasingly aggressive
and dangerous mortar fire and artillery. And that is followed
by a wave of Chinese troops advancing from their positions.
They attacked the Commonwealth trenches and by a little bit
(10:40):
before six in the morning, five forty five or so,
the sides have entered Malay hand to hand combat.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, I'm confused about this. So why were they doing
hand to hand combat? Why weren't they shooting at each other?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Because they got close enough to So the mortar fire
and the artillery, it's smacking the tar out of the
Commonwealth troops, got it. And while they're on the defensive,
the soldiers are getting close enough to This is trench warfare.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It's essentially like that going over the top kind of situation,
right right.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So they couldn't shoot from you know, from like a
rifle position, an individual walking position, you can't shoot into
the trench easily.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
That makes sense. So when we say hand to hand,
we are talking largely about I mean just that there's
fists involved, there's hand grenades involved, knives, knives, there's chucking
anything that you can get your hands on involved, and
that that becomes a big part of the story.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So Private Big Bill Speakman is prepping hand grenades when
he hears a message over the radio saying that two
groups have been overrun two platoons and that the ridge
may fall into enemy hands. So he gets the band
back together. He gathers up whomever's closest to him, hands
(12:03):
out grenades and says, let's go.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
And there's this quote in an article from The Independent
that has Speakman describing the scene like this. He says,
it was hand to hand. There was no time to
pull back the bolt of the rifle. It was November,
the ground was hard, so grenades bounced and did damage.
It makes you think of like a video game called
border Lands, where you could get different mods for your grenades,
(12:27):
and one of them made them like bouncing grenades, so
they would like literally bounce off of things and then
explode continuously. I know this is not the kind of
sci fi situation that's going on here, but what would
why would a bouncing grenade do more damage? I'm trying
to picture that because it only blows up once.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
So I guess we're speculating when't say that the bounce
puts it in a different position, you know, sort of
like hitting hitting a cool trick shot on a pool table.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Maybe it gets it makes it go farther too. You
could literally bounce it off because the ground is cold
and frozen. You could bounce it off and then it
would go farther. Yes, and if you're just fucking tons
of them, then it would just create absolute havoc.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So he's got his group of six men who have
joined him in collecting piles of grenades and throwing them
right at the enemy forces. It's important to say that
speakman does this on his own initiative. He's not ordered
to do so. He gets hit in the leg because
war is an ugly, nasty, dangerous thing, but he keeps fighting,
(13:26):
and he holds back the Chinese forces long enough for
those platoons that were overrun to evacuate their wounded, and
he keeps going. We'll never know how long he would
keep going. He didn't stop until he was directly ordered
to get his leg looked at.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, But in the meantime, when they ran of grenades,
he started just grabbing whatever he could get his hands on.
And in these days, the troops were allowed to have
some beer, so they had a whole kind of pile
of empty beer bottles, and he was able to kind
of created diversion just by hurling beer bottles at the
(14:03):
oncoming opposition, and probably didn't actually kill anybody or hurt
anybody too badly, but it certainly would have been annoying
and certainly would.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Have caused a distraction, right, I mean, it's the thought
that counts right.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Absolutely reminds me of that story we did about the
Americans throwing potatoes at a U boat.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yep, Yep, that really happened. It was perhaps exaggerated in
later retellings, but it did happen. There's a great article
of war history online by Jeff Edwards about this story
about Big Bill's speakman, and it confirms that he did
indeed throw these beer bottles. This story gets a little
(14:43):
bit exaggerated sometimes because you'll hear people say that he
just started throwing everything he could hand grenades, beer bottles,
empty ration tens, pencils, small woodland creatures, kitchen silverware, cricket bats,
and his own well, well will edit this for the air,
his own blank meaty fist that comes from the great
(15:05):
website Badass of Theweek dot com, which I highly highly
highly recommend. He did throw more than grenades and more
than beer bottles too. They threw ration tons, they threw stones,
and this did work. The press loved this, by the way.
They started calling Bill Speakman the beer bottle VC. And
(15:27):
I don't know if I don't know if you saw
this partneral. He hated that nickname.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
What does VC mean? That's a big part of the
story too. That's the Victorian Cross.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Ah, yes, the Victorian Cross. Tell us a little bit
about that.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah. The Victorian Cross is the highest military honor in
the United Kingdom. It is awarded for unparalleled bravery in
the heat of battle and was first awarded in eighteen
fifty seven by Queen Victoria. She presented them to sixty
two soldiers in front of about one hundred thousand people
(16:01):
at Hyde Park and it has gone on to remain
the highest military honor that one can receive. And Bill
Speakman got it right away because the story caught the
public's imagination. He really was incredibly brave. And to hear
him talk about it, he's like, nah, you know, it
was just doing what I was trying to do.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So yeah, it's rarefied air. Indeed, the medal's been awarded
one thousand, three hundred and fifty eight times, but only
fifteen medals have been awarded since World War Two.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And if I'm not mistaken, this would have been the
first VC to be awarded by the current Queen Elizabeth
the second.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, that's correct. So he loved his country, loved being
a VC recipient. He did not care in any shape,
form or fashion to be referred to as the beer
bottle VC because he thought it made the army look bad.
He thought the implication people would get from this was
(17:04):
that he and his colleagues were drinking on the job
and they weren't weird. Fact, you know what they used
the beer for? No, they used it to cool down
gun barrels.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Apparently I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I did not know that either, and I still. I mean,
if you are listening and you were one of your
relatives was in the Korean War or associated with it,
let us know if that's true, because it sounds like
a convenient excuse, you know what I mean. Oh sorry, Serge,
we're not This beer isn't for drinking. These guns just
get so gosh darn hot.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Well it's true, though, Ben, they do get pretty hot.
And you know, these kind of situations require thinking on
your feet and using what you have around as evidenced
by this whole situation, which made him one of the
like a national hero basically. And he returned back to
his home town of Altrinsham in Cheshire, and he was beloved.
There was a parade for him before he got home home.
(18:00):
People had like cleaned his house for him, and he
was treated very differently and he didn't particularly care for it.
He did not adjust very well to life as a civilian,
and he re enlisted pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, yep. He went on to serve in the army
until nineteen sixty seven. He served in the Indonesia Confrontation,
the Aiden Emergency, the Malayan Emergency. In twenty fifteen, he
made a return trip to South Korea along with other
veterans of the war, and when he was there he
(18:33):
donated his Victoria Cross to South Korea. He believed it
started there and he thought it was sensible to.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Leave it there and believe he had a replica made
that he gave to North Korea.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Did the yeah, yeah, right, yep, because you know, you
want to be fair. What's interesting here is that the
Victoria Cross he donates to South kore is not a replica,
but it is a replacement, you see. Like so many
(19:06):
veterans of wars Speakman was lauded at the beginning, but
later fell on financial hardship right, and he sold his
original Victoria Cross, using the money to put a new
roof on his house and only later was given a
genuine replacement.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Not to mention that in nineteen sixty eight he was
actually given an absolute discharge from the service because he
was arrested in Edinburgh for stealing one hundred and four
pounds from a woman's purse. And it was likely only
his lauded military career that kept him out of jail, right.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And he was never really comfortable with this, this heroic image.
He wasn't comfortable being a walking icon. We've got a
quote from an interview he did with the BBC around
the time he went to Korea. He said, it started
to dawn on me as the days went by, stopping
in the street. No matter what where you went in Altrincham,
(20:08):
people were trying to do things for you. I didn't
realize why it's got the VC really because I only
did what the other guys did. We fought and that's
what we were trained to do. So he wasn't into
the you know, the ego boost the hero worship stuff,
and he didn't want people to think that he was
some raging, violent, drunk now carousing and careening throughout the
(20:33):
Korean War. He was a guy with a job and
he did it as seriously as he could, even when
that involved throwing rocks and stones and ration tins, which technically,
depending on whether the tens were empty or full, could
make this a food fight.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
That's very true. He only just recently passed away in
June of twenty eighteen at the age of ninety. He
had immigrated to South Africa several times and come back,
but then ultimately returned to the UK, to Chelsea, which
is where he passed away at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yes, it's a retirement home and nursing home for around
three hundred veterans of the British Army. And with the
passing of Bill Speakman, we see the end of his story,
his part, his small part of the Korean War, which
as we record this episode today still technically continues. The
(21:31):
two countries sharing that peninsula in East Asia have not
made peace, but it is an eternal hope for the
people and the governments of both sides. That was like
the safest, most diplomatic way to say it.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I think that's very smart to keep it. You know,
diplomacy is key here, Ben, diplomacy is key. And you've
been to South Korea twice.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, yeah, I am probably going back later this year.
Actually really, yeah, it's the thing now, big fan, all right,
I mean you just find yourself in situations.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, I guess so we'll make sure to bring me
another hat. That's become our tradition. Now.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, I'm glad you appreciate it. I did, yeah, very much.
So you got to go sometime if you get the chance,
I'll say it. I know this is the most square
thing to say about visiting a place. But the food
is amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, it looks like it every time you guys go.
I can't look away from the Instagram stories so much
delicious Korean barbecue.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
There's a new Korean barbecue place in Decatur as well,
down the street from where we record this podcast.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Is it legit?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, it's legit. Cool, it gets the stamp. What's it
called D ninety two? No idea where the name comes from.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Well, I'll have to check it. Out. I love a
good Korean barbecue and Ben, by the way, unrelated food related,
Happy National Burrito Day.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Thank you, You're welcome. I didn't want to have to
remind you, so I'm glad that you're saying it.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And thank god We've got leftover Chipotle in the office
today so I can honor this holiday with Gusto.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yes, yes, and we also work down the street from
a restaurant called.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Gusto and a restaurant called Chipotle.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
At a restaurant called Chipotle, Casey, Pegram are you are
you a fan of burritos?
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Love a good burrito?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
What would be your ideal burrito? I'm pretty weird about britos.
I do not pack my burrito with much of anything
other than guy. Yeah, exactly. I get like steak, rice, cheese,
and that's that's it.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I'm good. No beans, no no.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Beans, bean free, Casey, no beans, Pegrim on the case.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So this concludes our This concludes our episode, but not
our show. Thank you so much for tuning in. We
would like to hear your stories of unorthodox, strange, or
fascinating events in times of conflict. You know, whether from civilians,
(23:51):
whether from soldiers, whether your first hand experience a story
from one of your relatives. Hit us with it. You
can find us on Facebook. You can find us on Instagram.
We're also on in a stunning plot twist Twitter. It's
not really a stunning plot twist. That's kind of required, right, Yeah, yeah,
it's a standard operating procedure.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't really mess with Twitter. There's a whole language
and vocabulary surrounding Twitter that I am just blissfully ignorant to.
I am an Instagram kid, and you can follow me
if you'd like at Embryonic Insider.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
You can find me and my various misadventures getting kicked
in and kicked out of countries around the world on
Instagram at Ben Bollan. You can see me on Twitter
at Ben Bolan HSW. Most importantly, you can see our
favorite part of the show, you are fellow listeners, live
and direct on our Facebook page, Ridiculous Historians.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Thanks as always to our super producer Casey Pegram, Thanks
to Alex Williams, who composed our theme. Thanks to our
research associate Gabe Lucier.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Thanks to Bill Speakman, thanks to Christopher Haciotis, thanks to
whomever invented the burrito, and thanks to you, nol.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Hey Ben, thanks to you too, and thanks to our
next episode, which you can join us for talk about
weird Chinese cult surrounding a certain Jesus of Nazareth. Fellow
Yeah cults?
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh uh wait, are you thanking our episode?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I am in advance.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Okay, well, let's make it good.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
See you next time, folks. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. For more podcasts from
my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Betrayal Season 5
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.