August 29, 2025 • 63 mins
History is strange and weird. Today's mash-up of stories proves it.
Theresa picks up where she left off last week. (Last week, she shared about that time North Korea sent 31 commandos into South Korea to take out their president.) This week, South Korea responds by forming their own squad, only spoiler alert: things go fantastically awry.
Angie collects her bearings before sharing the early years of her favorite SAS member, "Paddy" Blair Mane. Join us as she tells about him hunting South African springbok in formal wear and more.
These stories pair well with:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast,the podcast where two middle-aged moms do their
utmost to fill the void that is their personallives by binging history stories and then coming
together and telling each other the story of onlyrecently learned. I'm host one, I'm Teresa, and
(00:34):
that is host two. I'm Angie. And I couldn't resist,but it's not punching up or punching down, but
punching across. You know, punching is punching,I guess. Really? I woke up and chose violence. You
chose link.double. Okay, so that came from, I sentAngie the link for us to meet virtually so that we
(01:02):
could record this thing. And normally the subjectline is link, and the only part of the message is the
URL she needs to click. Today the subject line waslink, bracket, not Zelda. Bracket. Anyway, it's
going to be a great week. That's all we're saying.Yeah. And if you don't know who link or Zelda are,
(01:27):
were you alive in the 90s? Or 80s because I mean thatgold cartridge came out in the 80s. Yeah, like,
yeah, I played at least 89, at least. But I'm sayingthat's only four then. I mean, we got, we were the
first people we knew to get a Nintendo system, butwe lived in Japan. So we got it in a language we
(01:56):
couldn't read. That's awesome. That's superawesome. Nothing will teach you Japanese faster
than trying to figure out how to play your favoritevideo game. Yeah, no, pretty much. And we didn't
even know it was going to be our favorite. Wefigured that out quick though. I'm sure. But you
know, imagine me as a tiny toddler realizing forDoug, I could just walk up, touch the screen and get
(02:20):
all of the ducks. I was, I thought I was the best atthis game. I mean, were you not? The high score says
otherwise. The high score proves my point, youknow, exactly. You know, my lazy father who
couldn't be bothered to get up off the couch did notget a score as high as mine. Ergo, I clearly went. I
(02:46):
think so. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like I just kind ofwant to start. Do you mind? Yeah, it's my turn. All
right, my sources. MK News, The Big Hunt, WhenNorth Korean, it's basically all of the same
sources from last week. But I'll repeat them incase you didn't, you know, you didn't tune into
(03:08):
that. The Big Hunt, When North Korean agentsalmost get killed. Nope. In K News, The Big Hunt,
When North Korean agents almost killed SouthKorean's president, podcast The Lions led by
Donkeys, episode 137, The Shilmeato Mutiny,YouTube videos, The Korean Foreigner, there's
(03:30):
three of them. The USS Pueblo, the ship thatinadvertently prevented the Second Korean War,
Shilmeato, Unit 124's attempted assassinationof South Korean president, and Shilmeato, a movie
review and historical breakdown. Okay, so lastweek in episode 134, I shared the bonkers story of
(03:50):
how North Korea's Unit 124 committed the BlueHouse rape, or also Blue House incident if you're
looking at South Korean history and how they workand how to recap. It's a decade after the Korean
War, there'd been a relative peace, peace andquotation marks as they're, you know, fairly
(04:13):
hostile, but they're not actively in warfarebetween, or with America's troops standing next
to South Korea on the DMZ, holding that line. Andthey're just making sure the two countries stay
separated. They don't want to miss. Find their ownbusiness. Yeah. And then one night in the middle of
(04:35):
a below freezing winter night, a group of 31heavily trained commandos, like trained for
three years, no, I think it was two years, I think itwas two years, sneak out of South Korea. We don't
know if it was tunnels, if they popped over thefence, that's unclear, but either way, on foot,
(05:00):
these 31 elite soldiers make it over 30 miles to getto Seoul. And then in Seoul, they get
uncomfortably close to the president's red,residence at the Blue House. And that's where
their plan goes disastrously sideways. Of the 31original members, 27 are killed in the initial
confrontation, or at least in the ensuingpursuit. One person has taken prisoner before
(05:25):
taking his own life. And this is part and parcel forwhat North Korean forces usually do. In addition,
31 South Korean soldiers and policemen, fivecivilians are killed, and over 50 are wounded.
That's an incident. That's a body count. Yeah.Yeah. And they're saying incident, like the time I
(05:51):
say I overloaded the dishwasher, or the time Ifigured out that insert whatever hijinks I've got
here. I don't know which particular piece of loreto pull from. I mean, I think any given day of the
week that Teresa gets out of bed could be anincident. And I say that with all the love in my
(06:18):
heart, and I'm proud to know you. You say that andyou've never interfaced with my karate
instructors. I feel like I'm right. I feel like youguys have similar narratives for me. Well, then
maybe we just know what we're all of that had to go upinto the background so that I could get to today.
(06:46):
And today, I'm going to tell you about how SouthKorea responded. Okay, let's go. All right. So all
of that happened. South Korea is deep in its fieldsover this situation. Initially, South Korea's
Intelligence Agency planned to recruitprisoners on death row because they want to have
their own armed response. Great. So it's a sidesquad. Exactly, right? Okay. Now, I will say the
(07:16):
2006 Defense Ministry has some report notes aboutthe event, how they wanted to go to these prisons to
recruit civilians and give them a mission toassault Kim Il-sung's residence. But we have a
problem because the conditions in prison are toorough on the inmates and they're not sturdy enough
(07:40):
to get chosen for this mission. Like we could use afew more pounds of food? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
They may have not the best conditions beyond food.Like maybe they are getting a little roughed up.
(08:01):
Yeah. Okay. We're probably not staying at theRitz. Yeah. Everything about this says, what did
you expect? A five star Yelp review? Kick rocks.Yeah. Okay. Got it. Okay. And so they're like, huh,
maybe we can't pull from the absolute dregs. Sothere is a man named Yang So and he's a former unit
(08:28):
684 and 684 is what they're recruiting for therecruiting for unit 684. That's where they're
going to try to compile their suit. That's whatthey're going to name their suicide squad. Okay.
And Kim Dong So told CNN that members were largelyrecruited based on their physical appearance. So
they go to the prison, they realize, huh, this guyain't going to work out so well for us. So we're
(08:49):
going to need to take it to the streets and pick uppeople who were just arrested for a drunken brawl
or just like grab the toughest looking dude. Yanggoes on to say these people are either a shoe sign
boy, a newspaper boy, a cinema worker or a bouncer.Okay. So basically, they don't want to deal with
(09:12):
using their elite soldiers, nor do they want todeal with the implications of getting caught
using soldiers. But just kind of eyeballing thetoughest looking bloke on the street seems to make
a lot of sense here. I well, I mean So I just I lovethis North Korea says we're going to take the
(09:35):
biggest bad asses, ask for a group of volunteersfrom said bad asses, and then spend a couple of
years training them. It's South Korea'sresponses. You there boy. Come here. Hey, you
didn't skip leg day. Look at those cats. Come onover here. Your neck is thick. Yeah. You've got no
(09:57):
differentiation between head and shoulders.That is just one solid mass. Come on over here.
Great. Can you open this jar? Fantastic. I've got ajob. God. Okay, can I just tell you how I know the
rest of the story ends. They succeed. Okay, that'sthat's a good a good guess. I am I'm excited for that
(10:25):
guess. So basically, they don't want to deal withusing their elite soldiers, nor do they want to
deal with the implications of getting caught.Right now, we have Yang 21 years old. He's a
volunteer in the Air Force when he's deployed tothe island of Shilmeido off the western coast of
South Korea in 1970. Yang says he's charged withteaching the recruits hand to hand fighting.
(10:50):
Okay. Now he's 21. He's brand. He doesn't know themission. The recruits don't know the mission.
Nobody really knows necessarily what's going tohappen here. Right? Right. He says, I taught the
recruits the skill they needed to survive. And themost important lesson was to live. You must kill.
(11:16):
Okay. Now on the island, both recruits andtrainers are forbidden from communicating with
the outside world. And the training is relentlessand brutal. Now, okay, when you think about this is
a recruit, you're not communicating with yourfamily. You simply disappear. You get into a
drunken fight in the night. You're picked up bythese people trying to put together a hit squad and
(11:40):
you just evaporate. Yeah. Okay. I'd havequestions. Now, okay, I need to back up a little bit
because what ends up happening is these it could be30 number. There's a lot that's going to be fuzzy
(12:01):
about what I'm going to say because there's a lot ofmissing reports. Okay. Now, what we have is 30 ish
men, at least 31 because it was 31 men who came intoSouth Korea and South Korea wanted to have a bit of
parity. So they wanted to have either a total of 31graduate from this training or start with 31. So
(12:25):
there's an ambiguous number here. But we havethese people. They're taken. They're put on this
island. Okay. And bouncers, club guys, the milkman. Yep. Yep. Okay. Now, what we do know is from
1968 to 1971, seven of the unit's 31 members losttheir lives, 31 being an ambiguous number. I've
(12:51):
heard reports being like firm 31. Other reportsbeing like, eh, could be 37. Yeah. Like, they might
have expected a washout. Yeah. Now, according tothe Defense Ministry, two men are executed for
desertion. I'll spill it. I'll speak into that onein a little bit. Another man is threatened or is
(13:14):
executed for threatening a trainer. And thenthree others are executed or died after an
incident in which they escaped the island andraped a local woman. They come back, their crimes
come to light and they're just taken out. They'relike, no, we're not dealing with this. Absolutely
not cutting the cancer out. Yeah. Okay. Now, okay.There's also reports at the beginning of the
(13:39):
training with the recruiters who are soldiers.They're just kind of like the recruits are joking
around and the soldiers training them are just sofrustrated. These guys are taking orders because
they're not soldiers that they, one trainer justshoots two of them in the chest. And suddenly it's
(14:00):
no longer fun and games and everybody else has noproblem following orders the first time they're
given. Weird how that works. Now, I will say thereis a movie about this incident called Shilmeetah,
which I cannot get my hands on. It doesn't stream inthe U.S. I can't even figure out a way to get my hands
on a pirate copy without downloading the latestversion of Lime Wire. I didn't even know you could
(14:22):
still get Lime Wire. I'm, it's a hypothesis at mypoint. I knew I wasn't going to go this hard to go get
it. Right. Yeah. Well, you can't figure out how tostream it. Do we really need it? I mean, I feel like I
do. But the movie appears to be a huge source of,what? I'm so sorry. You're right because there's,
(14:44):
there's a book that I want in audio format that isnot released in the U.S. yet and I am prepared to go
to great lengths to get it. So you're right. I'msorry. You know what? I'm here for this. I'm here
for being called that I'm right. I mean, thank you.I forgot we were talking about, but I agree to your
(15:07):
terms. But what we do know about the movie is like,so the movie has a couple of moments where I should
say when the movie came out in like the early 2000sin Korea, it opened up that this event happened to
most of South Korea because nobody knew that thishappened. Oh, okay. And so then they're like, oh my
(15:33):
gosh. So there's a couple of like moments that arevery close to the reality of what we do know and
others that are far departures. So in the movie,they're in a boat, they're going to the island, the
recruits are laughing and joking, and one of theguards shoots at the recruits feet missing in the
bottom of the boat, which is probably the worsttime to start shooting at feet when you're in a
(15:57):
boat. Typically, I would, I would really feelstrongly against doing that. Yeah, like, you
know, let's not end everybody's life because twopeople were telling your mama jokes. Honestly,
don't go for the feet. Right. So to hear that it wasworse that they just like center massed these two
(16:18):
humans and then just said, okay, are we donejoking? Okay. Now this, so we have all of this going
on. If you've seen the movie, fantastic. If you canget me a bootleg version on hinge.historypod
.gmail.com. Please and thank you. Yeah. Now, Iwill say that throughout the the recruits and that
(16:45):
being on this island for three years. Okay. Now themembers of 684 were never deployed to North Korea.
And on top of the execution, fatalities andisolation, there's basic promises made by North
or South Korea that are that are broken, right?There's a commission that comes out with like a lot
(17:09):
of the stuff that we we get and saw the truthcommission, the 2006 Truth Commission. And it
concluded that after the first three months onShimido, commanders stopped paying the trainee
salary and switched them to a poor quality food.That seems counter. Yeah. I mean, you literally
(17:31):
stopped looking in the prison because you neededhealthy people. They're also getting
contaminated water. Oh, of course they are. And soit's like, meanwhile, the North Korean dudes who
came through, they were getting fed very wellbecause they needed to have, first off, grueling
(17:53):
training. Second rate. If you're going to besubjected to that for this volunteer mission, you
need to have some incentives and perhaps a decentmeal is going to be what keeps you going. I mean,
that's how I operate. All right. So after a year anda half of starting this training, two things start
(18:17):
happening. One, relations with North Korea startgetting friendlier and having a kill squad for
their leader isn't really something you want toown up to. I mean, who among us? I mean, you have your
mortal enemy come over and they see your kill roomand they kind of go, is this how you're living? I
(18:43):
thought better of you. Yeah. And then we haveanother thing that happens in South Korea and that
is the leader of the KCIA gets fired and replaced.Okay. The KCIA was the guy who put together this
whole, this whole system. This whole, right.Okay. Now the new guy, he doesn't want to want to run
(19:04):
a kill mission for a couple of reasons. Let'sassume the friendly nature between the two
countries isn't even on the table. If he runs thiskill mission and it works, he doesn't get credit
for it because it wasn't his idea. Oh, right. Andtechnically we shouldn't even be speaking about
it anyway. Exactly. Now also, if it doesn't workout, he catches all the blame because it happened
(19:29):
under his watch. Right. So he's like, right, whatdo I do with this group of, I mean, illegitimate
trainees? Like, so he starts putting them on bogusmissions. Like, maybe, maybe we'll get them to
bomb water towers if we send them into North Korea,so they flood the cities. Even though we're
(19:51):
getting to friendly terms, we're getting tofriendly terms, but it's just like those initial
steps with talking with a nemesis, an ex, awhomever, an angry spouse, where you're not sure
if it's going to work out yet. They've been stayingapart, but you know, it's like, I don't know yet,
but this isn't working for me kind of deal. So youwant to kind of keep that, that kill squad in your
(20:15):
back pocket when you're talking to the personyou're angry at. Yeah, we all have one, you know.
Yeah, I mean, who am I? And then, as all this ishappening in the background, something snaps.
It's been three years and on the morning of August23rd, 1971, the remaining 24 assassins turned on
(20:39):
their commanders. Oh, you didn't see that linecoming. Listen, they were not getting the right
food. I would be pissy, too. They used theirtraining to raid the armory and turned on the
guards, shooting, stabbing, and beating them todeath. Oh, Yang says he was preparing to go to the
(21:03):
mainland that morning for a monthly supply runwhen he heard gunfire. Okay. At first, I thought
North Korean special forces are here to take overthe island, Yang says. And then a recruit shot him
in the neck and the bullet entered from the backnext to the spine and passed through the left side
of his neck. Now, at the time of the recording ofthat, he was 68 years old, and Yang still had the
(21:29):
pale pink scars on his neck to mark the bullet'sentry and exit was. That was just a sheer stroke of
luck. Yeah, like all about that. Like any onedirection, even a millimeter off would have been
toast. Like his guarding agent was just like push.Please turn your head. Yeah. Just whistle over
(21:56):
here and look just slightly to the left. There wego. Thank you. Now, when he wakes up, he's bleeding
from his neck and everywhere the trainers arebeing shot and killed by recruits or the trainers
are running away or being shot again by recruitswho are making sure they're dead. Double time.
They got to be dead dead. Yep. Yep. So it's chaos.It's absolute anarchy. Okay. Yang said he dragged
(22:24):
himself down to a dark oyster encrusted rock thatlined the beach bleeding profusely and he hid
under the stones and prayed to God that his formerstudents wouldn't find him. If you like again, if
you would have offered him a nice sandwich to beginwith, we wouldn't be here. Right. You know, low
(22:44):
blood sugar does a bunch of things being hangry forthree years and brutalized by your instructors.
Yeah. Now, they never find him. And the members ofunit 684 killed 18 of the trainers on the island,
but they're not finished yet. Okay. Now they, theydon't fully know why they were put on this island
(23:12):
for this training. Nobody knows. This is all topsecret. We plugged you off the street. We said we
have a project for you. Go start doing pushups.Pretty much. Okay. Okay. So the assassins make
their way to the mainland and then they hijack thebus to Seoul. Okay. Now, it's here that they start
(23:40):
clashing with soldiers and police. Now, mind you,these guys are in Air Force uniforms. And they're
South Koreans. They're South Koreans in SouthKorean uniforms. Going to the South Korean
residential home. Yeah. Okay. Got it. I'm justmaking sure I understand the full picture here. So
(24:01):
this, this looks wildly similar to North Korea'sthing, except for these guys don't have accents
and they know how to say the word elevator. Theup-down machine. The up-down machine. Now, as
they're going to Seoul, dozens of security forcesand civilians are killed and wounded. Why?
(24:25):
Because these guys are armed to the teeth. They'reblasting machine guns out the doors and windows
and lobbing grenades. Hey. You've got a hell of aface. I just, I'm thinking, I'm thinking how the
North Koreans like beautifully trained thesesoldiers to do this job and how sideways their
(24:54):
incident went. And these guys are just this rag taglike you, you pulled me off the street and gave me
half a peanut butter and jelly. Let's call it good.Like, and they already cause so much more
destruction. Now you have a bucket of handgrenades. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Now the battle
(25:20):
ends with an explosion on the bus that killed 20 ofthe mutineers. Oh, now because, okay, basically
the bus gets ground to a halt because everyone'slike, holy crap, it's happening again. North
Korea's invading. Like they, they have, they areprimed and ready for this. And unit 684, they're
(25:44):
like, well, we're not going to make it. And sothey're like, well, I mean, we've got these hand
grenades, not, not enough because they've thrownall of them out the window. So they pull the pen and
hold onto it and off themselves. And four of themdidn't cuddle up close enough. So four survived
this blast because they had tossed so many out thewindow they didn't have enough to go around. Of
(26:06):
course. Now, none of the dead's family werenotified about their death. Wow. And it's
unlikely that they had any idea what happened totheir loved ones when they had disappeared three
years prior. Wow. It's, it's very likely that theyhad no idea that their family was involved with the
(26:30):
military at all, because you're grabbing justsome disgruntled youth. Right. Yeah. Off the
streets of a nightclub. The four who survived aretried in secret. And they're all found guilty and
executed March 10th, 1972. After the execution,the bodies were handed over to the families. And
(27:00):
that's that's in the Defense Ministry report from2006. Okay. So they scrape up all of the bits and
dump them into the sea and forget about it. Wow. Nowthat's unfortunate. The one thing that came out
about this was the KCA director. He ends upactually offing the president of South Korea
(27:27):
himself. Oh. And he does it by shooting him in theface a lot. Well, you know, when you got to get a job
done. And then he himself gets, gets shot. And thisproves to me that South Koreans are either the most
(27:51):
sarcastic or the best at downplaying thingsbecause the incident where the KCA director off
the president is referred to as the 1026 incident.Just a date. Yeah, just a date. Just an incident.
Yeah. That's like, that's like the equivalent ofthat time I ran out of gas. That's an incident. Not
(28:17):
the time there was a presidential assassination.Yeah. I feel like we worded that a little light, you
know. Yeah. Yeah. So I can't figure if it's humor orunderplay or a little of both. Maybe both. But
okay. So a lot of what we do know is wrapped up in thatmovie. She'll need, which did hit South Korea and
(28:40):
was like, Oh my gosh. And we do know there arevariations from that retelling because the
government destroyed so much of the reports and somuch of the paperwork. But in 2006, they had this
truth commission that did a bunch of the reports.So the government goes to the families involved
and shares. Now the name of the recruits involvedin the shell meet a mutiny, which is what it's
(29:04):
called now, that's not public knowledge, but atleast the families now. And then in 2010, the South
Korean government admitted that it lied. Itviolated the recruits basic human rights, and it
paid out over $300 million to the survivor'sfamily. Wow. Okay. Imagine if we would have
(29:26):
treated them right the first time. Amen. Yeah.That's wild. Wow. They got much closer. Well,
okay. The North Koreans got within 100 meters. Oh,that's true. Yeah. Okay. I don't, there's nothing
(29:48):
about this incident that I found that I've readthat says, and they were right within the
president's bedchamber when the bus blew up. Likethis, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, but it was
just like, they were at the front gate. They werelouder. They're hard to miss. But it was just like,
I'm sorry. Plus, and they had, what? And you, oh,yeah. Wow. Thank you for that. So that is, that is,
(30:24):
that is the full encapsulation of the Blue Houseincident into the Shulmida Mutiny. Nope, it is
just called the Blue House incident. Well, theBlue House incident technically ends when the
North Koreans either fully escape or unalive.Yeah. I guess that's true. But like the part two is
(30:47):
like South Korea going, now what are we going to doabout it? Oh, I got an idea. We're going to build a
suicide squad. Yeah. It, it's wild to me. Like,okay. I think I've, I think I've asked which
direction we're, playing multiple times now, butit's wild to me that North Korea has this idea. And
(31:10):
so they highly train these individuals who comethen sneak in to South Korea and South Korea's
response is to marginally highly train someindividuals who on their own accord decide to take
a bus and go in, like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I mean, Ihave a feeling the South Koreans, Unit 684, I think
(31:37):
they were disgruntled. They hadn't had anyinteraction with anybody outside of the other
recruits and their trainers. They've beenstarved and beaten into lethal shape. Yeah. And
eventually they're like, you know what we'regoing to do? We're just going to go talk to the
(31:58):
president. Yeah, we can go have a conversation.And they've lacked the calm conversation,
forming skills for the last three years. Nobody'sgentle parented them for three years. And now
they've got to go figure it out on their own. Whichis why we have a bucket of grenades and not enough to
(32:19):
go around. Well, originally they had enough to goaround, but when you throw too many out the window,
you don't have a lot of extra. Literally throw itout the window. Yeah. Oh, my word. But that's my
story. I have a story for you. And I am going to behonest and tell you that I have known this story was
(32:44):
coming since episode 117. Wow. Yeah. The SAS raidno one knew about. Okay. Okay. So did you get your
hands on? Was it I choose the storm? No. Wasn't thatthe book? There's many books. Oh, okay. I, okay.
(33:13):
How do I start this? In learning about the trainrobbery at the CCHI, I learned about like adjacent
to major Kerry Ewells or Ellis. I learned aboutanother figure in the SAS. And my poor husband has
(33:37):
never been more info dumped on in his life. Since Itold that first story, I have been learning about
this individual I have been stewing on andgatekeeping in the most jealous way, but also been
telling you stories that lead up to it. That said, Ithought it would be really fun to tell you the story
(34:02):
of the SAS, but in the frame of Lieutenant ColonelRobert Blair Patty Main, who is officially my hero
of heroes. I know that there's a lot of characterswe've done that I said like, oh my God, I love that
guy. He's my hero. But this one tops them all in mybook. Even Jack Churchill. So this is your love of
(34:25):
love. Pretty much like when, when I tell you theamount of times I have turned a conversation to
Patty Main and Ian has literally just rolled hiseyes. It's like, oh, I bet you can make that go back
to Patty Main. I love all of this for me. And I'mactually kind of hurt that you've kept it from me. I
(34:47):
have, dude, the amount of stories that I haveshared leading up to this, like I've, I didn't want
to do him while I was still in school because Iwanted to be able to like commit time to reading the
books that have been written about the SAS and thathad been written specifically about him without
having like the glute, like the cloud of schoolwork over me, right? But in the meantime, I've been
(35:16):
picking up stories here and there that I'm like, ohmy gosh, that directly relates to this outcome
that I'm like so curious about. So I've dropped youOperation Underworld and a handful of them. And as
I go through this, you will see where, where thoseother stories show up. So all that to say, did you
(35:41):
know, I just have to ask this is the total aside, butdid you know that there's a difference between
lieutenant and lieutenant? No, I thought it wasaccent, like aluminum, aluminum. So did I. So
they're the same rank. The reason that the, you,this is so stupid to me. The reason that the US has
(36:04):
lieutenants instead of left tenants and PS,they're spelled the same. It's just the way you
pronounce it. Okay. So you're proving my point sofar, but carry on. It is accent based, but there's a
reason for it. When the US was fighting theRevolutionary War, instead of modeling our
military after the British military, because ofthat too, we're fighting against, we modeled our
(36:27):
military after the French military. They havelieutenants, not left tenants. The English added
the F. Right. That feels like the very Frenchiestthing to do. Yeah. So let's let that stew in your
brain. Okay. For a while. All right. Yeah. Thanks.I hate it. You're welcome. So I have a ton of
(36:55):
sources. However, today, um, today's portion,this is going to be a series of stories. Today's
portion, the bulk of it comes from a book calledPity Main by Hamish Ross. It features a wonderful
forward by Mike Sadler, who was the like wizard of anavigator for the FAS. Um, and Hamish Ross, his
(37:20):
book is like a, not an autobiography, oh my God, abiography of Pity Main's life. And it's
phenomenal. And then there are three books byDamien Lewis, Brothers in Arms, Church Hill
Special Forces, during World War II's darkesthour. SAS Forged in Hell and SAS Dagger's Drawn.
(37:43):
I'm excited by this because I've almost bought acouple of those books and went, I'll come back for
you. They are so good. So good. They are, um, what Ireally appreciated about him is you get a real
sense of what's actually happening on the ground.Like he does a great, very detailed job of the
battles themselves that they fought. But morethan that, he includes so much like letters home
(38:12):
and journal entries from the actual SAS and fromthe members that were there on the ground that you
really get to see the people. And it's not just thislike over-exaggerated storytelling, right?
Like this is the muck and the grime in the quietmoments of reflection. And you get to kind of see
(38:32):
that all throughout the books. And I've just, Icannot speak more, more highly of them. They're so
good. So that's, that's the bulk of my, my sources.And then there is, um, the National Rugby, um,
historical website that I had to use. For today's,uh, bit. So without further ado, on January 11th,
(38:57):
1915, in, I'm going to pronounce this wrong, eventhough I said it right so many times, Newton Ards.
Oh, I said it right. Newton Ards County downIreland, a man who would later be akin to having a
bit of unexploded ordinance to him would be born.Yep. I'm sorry. Repeat that. He is considered to
(39:21):
have a bit of unexploded ordinance. And you saidhe's born. He was born on January 15th, later in
life. Born with the ordinance? No, later in life,he would be described as being a bit of unexploded
ordinance. Oh, he, that is his personality. Yes.Okay. Thank you because I was so lost and confused.
(39:44):
I was like, I apologize. Was I gave you a birth andthen it's a firecracker. What the heck? No, I gave
you birth and then I gave you a character traitright off the bat. He was the second youngest of
seven siblings. His parents were William andMargaret Main. Mom was the daughter of a wealthy
(40:06):
linen merchant and his father was a successfulbusinessman as well. So they grow up, you know,
well, they're not, they're doing okay. Yeah,they're, they're, they're doing just fine. Um, I
do want to stop right here though until you really,two really fun facts about his family real quick.
(40:27):
Firstly, he's named after his mother's cousin whojust before he had been born was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order for quote, rescuingwounded comrades without regard for his own
safety while coming under heavy and sustainedfire because Blair was born right in the thick of
World War one. Oh, right. And those words wouldring so true for him later being named after his
(40:55):
cousin. Additionally, his family could tracetheir lineage several generations back to the
area around his birthplace. Not only that, but hisgreat grandmother was Francis O'Neill of the very
ancient clan O'Neill who can follow their lineageto Irish roots of at least 700 years. And just as
(41:17):
impressive as their European roots all the wayback to 360 AD. Oh, okay. Like they got paperwork.
They have receipts. They got the receipts. So ourboy grows up in this wonderfully idyllic place in
childhood. Like I think for the first time, ourhero actually had a great upbringing and family
(41:38):
life. We've had a couple. I can't think of anotheroff the top of my head. Yeah. I mean, I'm I see it.
Well, I mean, okay, you look at Tallulah. Oh, yeah.You know, she was heavily indulged and spoiled
rotten and then put through all time for the rest ofthe schools. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah, at
(42:05):
least that. I'll let I'll let Tallulah. Okay.Tallulah and Blair, they're their friends. Okay.
So he, I love this part. So he's had this greatfamily life much later when Blair was an adult and
his father passed away, well, relatives wouldwrite of quote, Willie Maine saying things like
(42:28):
the head of our clan being a true gentleman who wasso good hearted, nothing would annoy him. Another
would say if he had lived to see his boys come homevictorious, it would have been a glorious
meeting. Right. Um, Maine was raised hunting. Hewas somewhat of a marksman fishing, playing all
sorts of sports. They say that they all excelled atsports, but when they mentioned that, they only
(42:53):
mentioned the boys, but something tells me thegirls went out and played sports with dad too. Like
I don't think that it was just, just the boys, butspecifically the boys are very athletic. Um,
brothers in arms. The first book about him saysthat their home was called Mount Pleasant and it
sat on 40 acres and it was quote, a singularlymusical, convivial place. And that young Blair
(43:18):
showed love for Irish folk songs and the works ofthe singer and poet Percy French, who was a bit of a
comedian in his, in his works. In school, he wasseen as shy, even bookish, which are a couple of
traits you see from him, his whole life. However,on the field of the rugby is where he would really
(43:43):
stand out. It's here that he lets down his guard andhis leadership skills really come to the
forefront. By the time he's 18, he's captain of thelocal Orange rugby club. This is wild when you
consider that there are several far older and moreexperienced players. When you look at photos of
(44:03):
the rugby club from the time, it shows a fresh babyfaced man sitting next to Baldwin and Beards. And
he's their appointed leader. Yeah. And, and theyare 100% okay with it. The club reports that
Maine's quote enthusiasm and thoroughness madehim an ideal leader. Again, these traits are going
(44:28):
to be seen over and over again, especially once hejoins the SIS, but he is also of the age to be going to
school. So he gets an education in law at QueensUniversity at Belfast where he qualifies as a
solicitor, which is like, I don't think the man.Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think he ever like
(44:49):
stopped doing something. I think he was justalways, always going to be excelling or always
going to be trying to excel at whatever it is that heputs his mind to. And there's like no idle time.
It's here that he would also play golf and cricket.And he was pretty fabulous at both, but he just for
(45:11):
context here, he's just over six, two. He's gotthis build that the French would later refer to as a
l'armoir. So he's, he's built like an arm, war.Yeah. He dude is just big. Um, I can't stop to get
about the fact that he is the same size as my son. AndI'm like, yep. Okay. Got it. Um, so he's got this
(45:37):
build and this athleticism to him and he's got thisgreat long reach and it helps make him the Irish
university's heavyweight boxing champion in1936. Uh, this checks. Right. He's got all these
things going for him by the following year. Hewould represent Ireland against Wells at lands
down road. It's, this is the final round of thatyear's like home nation championship and rugby.
(46:02):
So that's kind of a big deal. And then he would go onto be catch for Ireland several more times,
perhaps as many as 17, but I get a little differinganswers depending on which source I'm looking at.
Um, being capped cause I had, I didn't know whatthis was. I don't know much about rugby, but
evidently, I don't think it's just rugby related,but being kept is kind of like the equivalent of
(46:25):
being chosen to compete for your country in theOlympics. So it's like the highest athletic award
you can get. You make the national team.Basically, right? Okay. So 1938 rolls round and he
is selected to play for the British Lions tour inSouth Africa. And this is where my love for this guy
(46:46):
just really starts to show. So the Lions, they losetheir first test, but the South African
newspaper, which according to Mr. Lewis is notknown to praise athletes outside of South Africa,
said that Maine was quote, an outstanding wasquote, outstanding in a pack, which gamely and
(47:09):
entirely untiringly stood up to the tremendoustask. They would also go on to say that Maine was the
finest all round forward I had ever seen in hismagnificently built for the part in staying
power. He has to be seen to be believed. Right.Another Irish forward for the game of rugby called
(47:30):
Danny clinch said that Maine was the roughest andstrongest man he had ever known. Right. Mr. Lewis
has this really great visual in one of the books. Hesays quote, in the third and final test against
South Africa at Cape Town famous Newland Stadium,slogan, we never lose at Newlands. There were
(47:52):
eight Irishmen, Maine included in the startinglineup. At the end of the match, the crowd lifted
the visiting captain Walker and his teammates ontheir shoulders for the Lions had confounded all
expectations, winning the match 21 points to 16.Maine himself was acclaimed as being outstanding
in the open and magnificent in defense. Okay. Solet me repeat what I heard so you can correct my
(48:17):
understanding. The visiting team comes play sowell that the home crowd is so impressed that they
hoist the opposing team on their shoulders andbasically saying for he's a really good fellow.
That's that's exact same visual that I got. Yeah.Okay. Right. He's a bit far fetched. I haven't seen
(48:42):
this Disney film before. I think what it is is this,this level of sportsmanship amongst these
players. Like these guys come in and they are justthese beasts and the South Africans are so
impressed, both the plate, the South Africanplayers and the South African fans. They're just
(49:05):
what do we do but with them on our shoulder? It'sthis magnificent match. Well done. Like I think it
was just down to sportsmanship. That's my opinionof it. Um, his mates, both at home and for the Lions
that they said that he was intensely loyal and thetype of loyalty was not often seen. Again, we see
(49:26):
this characteristic time and time again in hislife. But let me just take a minute to regale you
with two of my favorite moments from these tripsfrom this trip to South Africa. And I think that
these stories really set the stage for the rest ofthis man's life. So there's a dance. He and his team
(49:47):
are all requested to attend. So it's this black tieaffair, right? Um, he's bored. He's so bored. He
does not want to stand around. He's not in all thebooks I read and all the things that I've listened
to. It's not that he is not want for the company ofwomen. It's just that he is shy. And until he gets to
(50:12):
know you, he doesn't, like, he doesn't do thatregular gentleman, like, outland just try to get
to know every lady in the room sort of saying, likehe just, if you're, if you're worth his salt,
that's great. If not, that's also great. He's fineeither way. He would rather go read a book if we're
(50:33):
being honest. Like, so he's bored. He's at thestance. It's a black tie event. He is bored to
death. So he decides he's going to go for a strolland he just simply disappears. Just guys don't see
him again for the rest of the night. In fact, hewould not be seen again until mid morning, the next
(50:54):
day. Wherein he would be seen strutting into theteam's hotel with his suit all rumbled and bloody,
a bit askew with a dead spring block atop hisshoulders. Okay. How was the spring block off?
Allow me to tell you, but first he goes straight tohis teammate, Jimmy, unwinds room and dumps the
(51:19):
animal on his bed announcing fresh meat. Unwind tothis point on the trip had spent the whole time
whining about the lack of meat on the tour. So,Maine's just solving a problem, right? He,
unwind, was not impressed. So Maine hauled thespring block up, back up, carried it out of the
(51:41):
window and onto the ledge and hung it outside theroom of the South African coach with a note
announcing fresh meat. So what had happened waswhen he got bored of the dance and decided to go for a
walk, he is at like a coffee stall, like a streetvendor. And he meets a group of locals who invite
(52:03):
him to go hunting. So he borrows the rifle, heborrows rifle, shoots the buck and brings it back
to the hotel room. But of course, that's what youdo. He is ever pleased with himself and does not see
this behavior as odd at all. When the JohannesburgStar heard of the incident, they would declare it
(52:24):
an act of his full measure of Irish wit andimagination. Like nobody is bothered by this.
Live your life, buddy. I mean, at this lead up, he'seither going to be a serial killer or an incredible
person of history. This could go either way. Itcould be. I promise you, incredible person of
(52:49):
history is going to be the outcome. Now, while he isin South Africa, in the rest of the world, the.
Sudenton land would become part of Germany, thehome of our night. Joseph Manchuk from my story
last week. Okay. I'm starting to see the throughlines through lines. Right. Okay. So let me tell
(53:14):
you the final tidbit of my story this week. It'sgoing to shed some light on Maine's moral compass.
So he is a firm believer in the underdog and a fierceadversary of the bully of all sorts. So Maine and
his teammate, a Welshman called Bill Travers,they meet a fellow that they call Rooster and they
set out to help him. Rooster is a black man and aconvict. Now remember they are in South Africa,
(53:41):
who was serving seven years for stealing achicken. This doesn't sit well with Maine and
Travers. So they cut his chains and give them theirclothes so he can make a getaway. Unfortunately,
Rooster was recaptured and when he returned, hereturned home wearing a blazer with Maine's name
sewn into the collar. Yeah, that's, that's goingto, that's going to out him. Oh, no, a little bit, do
(54:08):
you think? Maine would be known for always doingwhat he believed was right, often being law until
himself, even if it was opposed to beingdiplomatic or would not benefit. If it was right,
it was the right thing to do, whether itinconvenienced him or not. Now later, this is
(54:29):
going to prove invaluable for his men who see hisactions and see his behavior as kind of the only way
to be. However, because he sort of takes thesituation into his own hands, high command can't
(54:49):
deal with it. You can't tell Patty Maine, no, PattyMaine is going to do what Patty Maine is going to do.
And you just have to sit back and watch the fall out.That doesn't seem like what you would want for a
subordinate and the armed forces. Well, nextweek, I'll tell you about his time in number 11
(55:10):
commando and how he finds himself with the SAS. Oh,I didn't realize I was giving you a segue. I thought
you were going to spend the next several hoursgiving me story time. I could totally spend the
next several hours giving me story time. But Ithought that the end of the South African tour
would be a great breaking point for my story thisweek, because this kind of encapsulated his youth
(55:38):
and his younger years. So just as a recap, he is 22.He is a lawyer and he is an international rugby
player. War has not been particularly called outyet. So it troubles brewing, but nobody is set to
(56:01):
worry. Correct. And this is a man who, for whatother reason, is uniquely suited for the job at
hand. No, not a psychotic serial killer. I haven'twatched anything but a couple of minutes of SAS
Rogue Heroes because I didn't want to have theresearch that all of these authors have put in
(56:27):
tainted by what Hollywood has decided to describeas any of these people. But when I'm done, when I'm
done with all my reading, I will, because it seemsfun, but I did watch about five minutes of an
episode yesterday or like a compilation ofepisodes yesterday. And it paints Tidy Main in
(56:49):
this light of being just this crazy Berserker typefellow that screams and has this huge attitude
problem. And that's not really the real Tidy Main.Like, yeah, he's been known to have an attitude
problem. And yeah, he's maybe raised his voiceonce real solidly, but he wasn't. He was a quiet guy
(57:17):
you didn't want to mess with. Okay. Okay, I likethis. Yeah. So I need you to know that I love him so
much that I actually have his sticker on the back ofmy surface. What is his, you can't show me because
that's the reverse of the screen. I can't see. Allright, you need to take a picture and send it to me.
(57:37):
Oh, but I do have a couple of pictures of young TidyMain. Please and thank you. You're welcome. Let
me. I just realized that I completely forgot that Ihave this picture of these photos. Hello, share.
There we go. My share button disappeared. So thisis during his time as a rugby player. He looks like
(58:06):
Captain America. I actually could call himCaptain Britain. But I mean, you know what I mean?
Like what's the actor that plays him? Oh my gosh,Chris Evans. Yes, he looks like Chris Evans. Like
this is Chris Evans father. Notice the black andwhite. Notice the rugby polo. Yeah. Very hot hair.
(58:31):
The man has a neck the size of Scarlet O'Hara'swaist. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great description
right there. So that's him during his time playingrugby. This, the following picture is probably
one of my favorite pictures of him. So this isduring his tour in North Africa. For this one, he's
(58:53):
got kind of a scruffy looking beard. He's looking asconce at the camera. He's got a jumper to borrow
the British term for sweater over his uniformshirt. Now, for fun, this picture doesn't show all
(59:14):
of it, but I think what that device is next to him,that he's standing behind, is the, the SAS
developed a massive love affair for the AmericanJeep Willys and they mount Vickers K machine guns
all over them. And I believe that is the back endmount of one of them. However, for funsies, just as
(59:41):
a side note, they do not call them willy jeeps likewe do. They call them Willis and it makes me smile
every time I hear it. Well, I mean, let's face it,you know, they're, they're a bit more formal than
we are. Yep. Those the Willis jeeps. That's theirfavorite mode of transportation are the, the
willy jeeps. So that's my, one of my favoritepictures of him. However, the sticker that I have
(01:00:07):
is not that. It's him wearing like driving. He'sgot the goggles on. So the sandstorms don't get him
in the eye. Okay. I'm here for that. And so I'massuming I just now get to know him name and you can
pray that I don't do my own research on him. If you doyour own research on him, I'll be simply
devastated because I have read so many books andwatched so many YouTube's that you just need to let
(01:00:33):
me tell his story. I will. Hey, I will. I will.Especially since you've been working on this for
half a year. Thank you so much. Yeah, I do what I can.Appreciate you. And Ian thanks you as well because
maybe now I won't info Dumbun Ian today because Iinfo Dumbun you. So what I'm hearing is we're going
to be recording episodes daily. He wouldappreciate it just so he doesn't have to hear Patty
(01:00:58):
Maine's name all day. I'm sure of it. Meanwhile incouples therapy. First of all, I would like to
point out that I know about Patty Maine because hefound the story about the pastiche train robbery
and by sheer like happenstance while I was lookingup information on that Patty Maine's name was
(01:01:25):
brought up and I was like, who is this this dashingrogue? I need I need to know. So he fully is aware of
what he's done. And he also supports it and buys thebooks so he can't complain in couple therapy. I
mean, he can but does he have much of a leg to standon? Not not a one. It's like that scene in what
(01:01:48):
happens in Vegas when Ashton Kutcher shows up totherapy and he's got the black eye but the boss
already has the video of him giving it to himself.Yeah. That's the story. Okay. Well, if you've
enjoyed this weird incredible mashup of storiesand you're thinking, I can't wait to hear the next
(01:02:10):
installment of Eddie Maine, nor is it any man orPatty Maine? Patty Maine, Patty Maine. So he went
by Blair Patty is the nickname that every Irishmanin World War II got. They were all called Patty, but
he didn't mind it. But Blair was his what his thepeople closest to him called called him. Okay. If
(01:02:36):
you've enjoyed this mashup of how South Korea didit to themselves and the SAS member that you've
never heard of and you can't wait to learn more tunein next week. And actually, you know what? Share
this with your favorite unsung hero, the personwhose lore you know would be a great nonfiction 491 01:02:56,930 --> biography. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Goodbye. Bye.
Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast,the podcast where two middle-aged moms do their
utmost to fill the void that is their personallives by binging history stories and then coming
together and telling each other the story of onlyrecently learned. I'm host one, I'm Teresa, and
(00:34):
that is host two. I'm Angie. And I couldn't resist,but it's not punching up or punching down, but
punching across. You know, punching is punching,I guess. Really? I woke up and chose violence. You
chose link.double. Okay, so that came from, I sentAngie the link for us to meet virtually so that we
(01:02):
could record this thing. And normally the subjectline is link, and the only part of the message is the
URL she needs to click. Today the subject line waslink, bracket, not Zelda. Bracket. Anyway, it's
going to be a great week. That's all we're saying.Yeah. And if you don't know who link or Zelda are,
(01:27):
were you alive in the 90s? Or 80s because I mean thatgold cartridge came out in the 80s. Yeah, like,
yeah, I played at least 89, at least. But I'm sayingthat's only four then. I mean, we got, we were the
first people we knew to get a Nintendo system, butwe lived in Japan. So we got it in a language we
(01:56):
couldn't read. That's awesome. That's superawesome. Nothing will teach you Japanese faster
than trying to figure out how to play your favoritevideo game. Yeah, no, pretty much. And we didn't
even know it was going to be our favorite. Wefigured that out quick though. I'm sure. But you
know, imagine me as a tiny toddler realizing forDoug, I could just walk up, touch the screen and get
(02:20):
all of the ducks. I was, I thought I was the best atthis game. I mean, were you not? The high score says
otherwise. The high score proves my point, youknow, exactly. You know, my lazy father who
couldn't be bothered to get up off the couch did notget a score as high as mine. Ergo, I clearly went. I
(02:46):
think so. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like I just kind ofwant to start. Do you mind? Yeah, it's my turn. All
right, my sources. MK News, The Big Hunt, WhenNorth Korean, it's basically all of the same
sources from last week. But I'll repeat them incase you didn't, you know, you didn't tune into
(03:08):
that. The Big Hunt, When North Korean agentsalmost get killed. Nope. In K News, The Big Hunt,
When North Korean agents almost killed SouthKorean's president, podcast The Lions led by
Donkeys, episode 137, The Shilmeato Mutiny,YouTube videos, The Korean Foreigner, there's
(03:30):
three of them. The USS Pueblo, the ship thatinadvertently prevented the Second Korean War,
Shilmeato, Unit 124's attempted assassinationof South Korean president, and Shilmeato, a movie
review and historical breakdown. Okay, so lastweek in episode 134, I shared the bonkers story of
(03:50):
how North Korea's Unit 124 committed the BlueHouse rape, or also Blue House incident if you're
looking at South Korean history and how they workand how to recap. It's a decade after the Korean
War, there'd been a relative peace, peace andquotation marks as they're, you know, fairly
(04:13):
hostile, but they're not actively in warfarebetween, or with America's troops standing next
to South Korea on the DMZ, holding that line. Andthey're just making sure the two countries stay
separated. They don't want to miss. Find their ownbusiness. Yeah. And then one night in the middle of
(04:35):
a below freezing winter night, a group of 31heavily trained commandos, like trained for
three years, no, I think it was two years, I think itwas two years, sneak out of South Korea. We don't
know if it was tunnels, if they popped over thefence, that's unclear, but either way, on foot,
(05:00):
these 31 elite soldiers make it over 30 miles to getto Seoul. And then in Seoul, they get
uncomfortably close to the president's red,residence at the Blue House. And that's where
their plan goes disastrously sideways. Of the 31original members, 27 are killed in the initial
confrontation, or at least in the ensuingpursuit. One person has taken prisoner before
(05:25):
taking his own life. And this is part and parcel forwhat North Korean forces usually do. In addition,
31 South Korean soldiers and policemen, fivecivilians are killed, and over 50 are wounded.
That's an incident. That's a body count. Yeah.Yeah. And they're saying incident, like the time I
(05:51):
say I overloaded the dishwasher, or the time Ifigured out that insert whatever hijinks I've got
here. I don't know which particular piece of loreto pull from. I mean, I think any given day of the
week that Teresa gets out of bed could be anincident. And I say that with all the love in my
(06:18):
heart, and I'm proud to know you. You say that andyou've never interfaced with my karate
instructors. I feel like I'm right. I feel like youguys have similar narratives for me. Well, then
maybe we just know what we're all of that had to go upinto the background so that I could get to today.
(06:46):
And today, I'm going to tell you about how SouthKorea responded. Okay, let's go. All right. So all
of that happened. South Korea is deep in its fieldsover this situation. Initially, South Korea's
Intelligence Agency planned to recruitprisoners on death row because they want to have
their own armed response. Great. So it's a sidesquad. Exactly, right? Okay. Now, I will say the
(07:16):
2006 Defense Ministry has some report notes aboutthe event, how they wanted to go to these prisons to
recruit civilians and give them a mission toassault Kim Il-sung's residence. But we have a
problem because the conditions in prison are toorough on the inmates and they're not sturdy enough
(07:40):
to get chosen for this mission. Like we could use afew more pounds of food? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
They may have not the best conditions beyond food.Like maybe they are getting a little roughed up.
(08:01):
Yeah. Okay. We're probably not staying at theRitz. Yeah. Everything about this says, what did
you expect? A five star Yelp review? Kick rocks.Yeah. Okay. Got it. Okay. And so they're like, huh,
maybe we can't pull from the absolute dregs. Sothere is a man named Yang So and he's a former unit
(08:28):
684 and 684 is what they're recruiting for therecruiting for unit 684. That's where they're
going to try to compile their suit. That's whatthey're going to name their suicide squad. Okay.
And Kim Dong So told CNN that members were largelyrecruited based on their physical appearance. So
they go to the prison, they realize, huh, this guyain't going to work out so well for us. So we're
(08:49):
going to need to take it to the streets and pick uppeople who were just arrested for a drunken brawl
or just like grab the toughest looking dude. Yanggoes on to say these people are either a shoe sign
boy, a newspaper boy, a cinema worker or a bouncer.Okay. So basically, they don't want to deal with
(09:12):
using their elite soldiers, nor do they want todeal with the implications of getting caught
using soldiers. But just kind of eyeballing thetoughest looking bloke on the street seems to make
a lot of sense here. I well, I mean So I just I lovethis North Korea says we're going to take the
(09:35):
biggest bad asses, ask for a group of volunteersfrom said bad asses, and then spend a couple of
years training them. It's South Korea'sresponses. You there boy. Come here. Hey, you
didn't skip leg day. Look at those cats. Come onover here. Your neck is thick. Yeah. You've got no
(09:57):
differentiation between head and shoulders.That is just one solid mass. Come on over here.
Great. Can you open this jar? Fantastic. I've got ajob. God. Okay, can I just tell you how I know the
rest of the story ends. They succeed. Okay, that'sthat's a good a good guess. I am I'm excited for that
(10:25):
guess. So basically, they don't want to deal withusing their elite soldiers, nor do they want to
deal with the implications of getting caught.Right now, we have Yang 21 years old. He's a
volunteer in the Air Force when he's deployed tothe island of Shilmeido off the western coast of
South Korea in 1970. Yang says he's charged withteaching the recruits hand to hand fighting.
(10:50):
Okay. Now he's 21. He's brand. He doesn't know themission. The recruits don't know the mission.
Nobody really knows necessarily what's going tohappen here. Right? Right. He says, I taught the
recruits the skill they needed to survive. And themost important lesson was to live. You must kill.
(11:16):
Okay. Now on the island, both recruits andtrainers are forbidden from communicating with
the outside world. And the training is relentlessand brutal. Now, okay, when you think about this is
a recruit, you're not communicating with yourfamily. You simply disappear. You get into a
drunken fight in the night. You're picked up bythese people trying to put together a hit squad and
(11:40):
you just evaporate. Yeah. Okay. I'd havequestions. Now, okay, I need to back up a little bit
because what ends up happening is these it could be30 number. There's a lot that's going to be fuzzy
(12:01):
about what I'm going to say because there's a lot ofmissing reports. Okay. Now, what we have is 30 ish
men, at least 31 because it was 31 men who came intoSouth Korea and South Korea wanted to have a bit of
parity. So they wanted to have either a total of 31graduate from this training or start with 31. So
(12:25):
there's an ambiguous number here. But we havethese people. They're taken. They're put on this
island. Okay. And bouncers, club guys, the milkman. Yep. Yep. Okay. Now, what we do know is from
1968 to 1971, seven of the unit's 31 members losttheir lives, 31 being an ambiguous number. I've
(12:51):
heard reports being like firm 31. Other reportsbeing like, eh, could be 37. Yeah. Like, they might
have expected a washout. Yeah. Now, according tothe Defense Ministry, two men are executed for
desertion. I'll spill it. I'll speak into that onein a little bit. Another man is threatened or is
(13:14):
executed for threatening a trainer. And thenthree others are executed or died after an
incident in which they escaped the island andraped a local woman. They come back, their crimes
come to light and they're just taken out. They'relike, no, we're not dealing with this. Absolutely
not cutting the cancer out. Yeah. Okay. Now, okay.There's also reports at the beginning of the
(13:39):
training with the recruiters who are soldiers.They're just kind of like the recruits are joking
around and the soldiers training them are just sofrustrated. These guys are taking orders because
they're not soldiers that they, one trainer justshoots two of them in the chest. And suddenly it's
(14:00):
no longer fun and games and everybody else has noproblem following orders the first time they're
given. Weird how that works. Now, I will say thereis a movie about this incident called Shilmeetah,
which I cannot get my hands on. It doesn't stream inthe U.S. I can't even figure out a way to get my hands
on a pirate copy without downloading the latestversion of Lime Wire. I didn't even know you could
(14:22):
still get Lime Wire. I'm, it's a hypothesis at mypoint. I knew I wasn't going to go this hard to go get
it. Right. Yeah. Well, you can't figure out how tostream it. Do we really need it? I mean, I feel like I
do. But the movie appears to be a huge source of,what? I'm so sorry. You're right because there's,
(14:44):
there's a book that I want in audio format that isnot released in the U.S. yet and I am prepared to go
to great lengths to get it. So you're right. I'msorry. You know what? I'm here for this. I'm here
for being called that I'm right. I mean, thank you.I forgot we were talking about, but I agree to your
(15:07):
terms. But what we do know about the movie is like,so the movie has a couple of moments where I should
say when the movie came out in like the early 2000sin Korea, it opened up that this event happened to
most of South Korea because nobody knew that thishappened. Oh, okay. And so then they're like, oh my
(15:33):
gosh. So there's a couple of like moments that arevery close to the reality of what we do know and
others that are far departures. So in the movie,they're in a boat, they're going to the island, the
recruits are laughing and joking, and one of theguards shoots at the recruits feet missing in the
bottom of the boat, which is probably the worsttime to start shooting at feet when you're in a
(15:57):
boat. Typically, I would, I would really feelstrongly against doing that. Yeah, like, you
know, let's not end everybody's life because twopeople were telling your mama jokes. Honestly,
don't go for the feet. Right. So to hear that it wasworse that they just like center massed these two
(16:18):
humans and then just said, okay, are we donejoking? Okay. Now this, so we have all of this going
on. If you've seen the movie, fantastic. If you canget me a bootleg version on hinge.historypod
.gmail.com. Please and thank you. Yeah. Now, Iwill say that throughout the the recruits and that
(16:45):
being on this island for three years. Okay. Now themembers of 684 were never deployed to North Korea.
And on top of the execution, fatalities andisolation, there's basic promises made by North
or South Korea that are that are broken, right?There's a commission that comes out with like a lot
(17:09):
of the stuff that we we get and saw the truthcommission, the 2006 Truth Commission. And it
concluded that after the first three months onShimido, commanders stopped paying the trainee
salary and switched them to a poor quality food.That seems counter. Yeah. I mean, you literally
(17:31):
stopped looking in the prison because you neededhealthy people. They're also getting
contaminated water. Oh, of course they are. And soit's like, meanwhile, the North Korean dudes who
came through, they were getting fed very wellbecause they needed to have, first off, grueling
(17:53):
training. Second rate. If you're going to besubjected to that for this volunteer mission, you
need to have some incentives and perhaps a decentmeal is going to be what keeps you going. I mean,
that's how I operate. All right. So after a year anda half of starting this training, two things start
(18:17):
happening. One, relations with North Korea startgetting friendlier and having a kill squad for
their leader isn't really something you want toown up to. I mean, who among us? I mean, you have your
mortal enemy come over and they see your kill roomand they kind of go, is this how you're living? I
(18:43):
thought better of you. Yeah. And then we haveanother thing that happens in South Korea and that
is the leader of the KCIA gets fired and replaced.Okay. The KCIA was the guy who put together this
whole, this whole system. This whole, right.Okay. Now the new guy, he doesn't want to want to run
(19:04):
a kill mission for a couple of reasons. Let'sassume the friendly nature between the two
countries isn't even on the table. If he runs thiskill mission and it works, he doesn't get credit
for it because it wasn't his idea. Oh, right. Andtechnically we shouldn't even be speaking about
it anyway. Exactly. Now also, if it doesn't workout, he catches all the blame because it happened
(19:29):
under his watch. Right. So he's like, right, whatdo I do with this group of, I mean, illegitimate
trainees? Like, so he starts putting them on bogusmissions. Like, maybe, maybe we'll get them to
bomb water towers if we send them into North Korea,so they flood the cities. Even though we're
(19:51):
getting to friendly terms, we're getting tofriendly terms, but it's just like those initial
steps with talking with a nemesis, an ex, awhomever, an angry spouse, where you're not sure
if it's going to work out yet. They've been stayingapart, but you know, it's like, I don't know yet,
but this isn't working for me kind of deal. So youwant to kind of keep that, that kill squad in your
(20:15):
back pocket when you're talking to the personyou're angry at. Yeah, we all have one, you know.
Yeah, I mean, who am I? And then, as all this ishappening in the background, something snaps.
It's been three years and on the morning of August23rd, 1971, the remaining 24 assassins turned on
(20:39):
their commanders. Oh, you didn't see that linecoming. Listen, they were not getting the right
food. I would be pissy, too. They used theirtraining to raid the armory and turned on the
guards, shooting, stabbing, and beating them todeath. Oh, Yang says he was preparing to go to the
(21:03):
mainland that morning for a monthly supply runwhen he heard gunfire. Okay. At first, I thought
North Korean special forces are here to take overthe island, Yang says. And then a recruit shot him
in the neck and the bullet entered from the backnext to the spine and passed through the left side
of his neck. Now, at the time of the recording ofthat, he was 68 years old, and Yang still had the
(21:29):
pale pink scars on his neck to mark the bullet'sentry and exit was. That was just a sheer stroke of
luck. Yeah, like all about that. Like any onedirection, even a millimeter off would have been
toast. Like his guarding agent was just like push.Please turn your head. Yeah. Just whistle over
(21:56):
here and look just slightly to the left. There wego. Thank you. Now, when he wakes up, he's bleeding
from his neck and everywhere the trainers arebeing shot and killed by recruits or the trainers
are running away or being shot again by recruitswho are making sure they're dead. Double time.
They got to be dead dead. Yep. Yep. So it's chaos.It's absolute anarchy. Okay. Yang said he dragged
(22:24):
himself down to a dark oyster encrusted rock thatlined the beach bleeding profusely and he hid
under the stones and prayed to God that his formerstudents wouldn't find him. If you like again, if
you would have offered him a nice sandwich to beginwith, we wouldn't be here. Right. You know, low
(22:44):
blood sugar does a bunch of things being hangry forthree years and brutalized by your instructors.
Yeah. Now, they never find him. And the members ofunit 684 killed 18 of the trainers on the island,
but they're not finished yet. Okay. Now they, theydon't fully know why they were put on this island
(23:12):
for this training. Nobody knows. This is all topsecret. We plugged you off the street. We said we
have a project for you. Go start doing pushups.Pretty much. Okay. Okay. So the assassins make
their way to the mainland and then they hijack thebus to Seoul. Okay. Now, it's here that they start
(23:40):
clashing with soldiers and police. Now, mind you,these guys are in Air Force uniforms. And they're
South Koreans. They're South Koreans in SouthKorean uniforms. Going to the South Korean
residential home. Yeah. Okay. Got it. I'm justmaking sure I understand the full picture here. So
(24:01):
this, this looks wildly similar to North Korea'sthing, except for these guys don't have accents
and they know how to say the word elevator. Theup-down machine. The up-down machine. Now, as
they're going to Seoul, dozens of security forcesand civilians are killed and wounded. Why?
(24:25):
Because these guys are armed to the teeth. They'reblasting machine guns out the doors and windows
and lobbing grenades. Hey. You've got a hell of aface. I just, I'm thinking, I'm thinking how the
North Koreans like beautifully trained thesesoldiers to do this job and how sideways their
(24:54):
incident went. And these guys are just this rag taglike you, you pulled me off the street and gave me
half a peanut butter and jelly. Let's call it good.Like, and they already cause so much more
destruction. Now you have a bucket of handgrenades. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Now the battle
(25:20):
ends with an explosion on the bus that killed 20 ofthe mutineers. Oh, now because, okay, basically
the bus gets ground to a halt because everyone'slike, holy crap, it's happening again. North
Korea's invading. Like they, they have, they areprimed and ready for this. And unit 684, they're
(25:44):
like, well, we're not going to make it. And sothey're like, well, I mean, we've got these hand
grenades, not, not enough because they've thrownall of them out the window. So they pull the pen and
hold onto it and off themselves. And four of themdidn't cuddle up close enough. So four survived
this blast because they had tossed so many out thewindow they didn't have enough to go around. Of
(26:06):
course. Now, none of the dead's family werenotified about their death. Wow. And it's
unlikely that they had any idea what happened totheir loved ones when they had disappeared three
years prior. Wow. It's, it's very likely that theyhad no idea that their family was involved with the
(26:30):
military at all, because you're grabbing justsome disgruntled youth. Right. Yeah. Off the
streets of a nightclub. The four who survived aretried in secret. And they're all found guilty and
executed March 10th, 1972. After the execution,the bodies were handed over to the families. And
(27:00):
that's that's in the Defense Ministry report from2006. Okay. So they scrape up all of the bits and
dump them into the sea and forget about it. Wow. Nowthat's unfortunate. The one thing that came out
about this was the KCA director. He ends upactually offing the president of South Korea
(27:27):
himself. Oh. And he does it by shooting him in theface a lot. Well, you know, when you got to get a job
done. And then he himself gets, gets shot. And thisproves to me that South Koreans are either the most
(27:51):
sarcastic or the best at downplaying thingsbecause the incident where the KCA director off
the president is referred to as the 1026 incident.Just a date. Yeah, just a date. Just an incident.
Yeah. That's like, that's like the equivalent ofthat time I ran out of gas. That's an incident. Not
(28:17):
the time there was a presidential assassination.Yeah. I feel like we worded that a little light, you
know. Yeah. Yeah. So I can't figure if it's humor orunderplay or a little of both. Maybe both. But
okay. So a lot of what we do know is wrapped up in thatmovie. She'll need, which did hit South Korea and
(28:40):
was like, Oh my gosh. And we do know there arevariations from that retelling because the
government destroyed so much of the reports and somuch of the paperwork. But in 2006, they had this
truth commission that did a bunch of the reports.So the government goes to the families involved
and shares. Now the name of the recruits involvedin the shell meet a mutiny, which is what it's
(29:04):
called now, that's not public knowledge, but atleast the families now. And then in 2010, the South
Korean government admitted that it lied. Itviolated the recruits basic human rights, and it
paid out over $300 million to the survivor'sfamily. Wow. Okay. Imagine if we would have
(29:26):
treated them right the first time. Amen. Yeah.That's wild. Wow. They got much closer. Well,
okay. The North Koreans got within 100 meters. Oh,that's true. Yeah. Okay. I don't, there's nothing
(29:48):
about this incident that I found that I've readthat says, and they were right within the
president's bedchamber when the bus blew up. Likethis, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, but it was
just like, they were at the front gate. They werelouder. They're hard to miss. But it was just like,
I'm sorry. Plus, and they had, what? And you, oh,yeah. Wow. Thank you for that. So that is, that is,
(30:24):
that is the full encapsulation of the Blue Houseincident into the Shulmida Mutiny. Nope, it is
just called the Blue House incident. Well, theBlue House incident technically ends when the
North Koreans either fully escape or unalive.Yeah. I guess that's true. But like the part two is
(30:47):
like South Korea going, now what are we going to doabout it? Oh, I got an idea. We're going to build a
suicide squad. Yeah. It, it's wild to me. Like,okay. I think I've, I think I've asked which
direction we're, playing multiple times now, butit's wild to me that North Korea has this idea. And
(31:10):
so they highly train these individuals who comethen sneak in to South Korea and South Korea's
response is to marginally highly train someindividuals who on their own accord decide to take
a bus and go in, like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I mean, Ihave a feeling the South Koreans, Unit 684, I think
(31:37):
they were disgruntled. They hadn't had anyinteraction with anybody outside of the other
recruits and their trainers. They've beenstarved and beaten into lethal shape. Yeah. And
eventually they're like, you know what we'regoing to do? We're just going to go talk to the
(31:58):
president. Yeah, we can go have a conversation.And they've lacked the calm conversation,
forming skills for the last three years. Nobody'sgentle parented them for three years. And now
they've got to go figure it out on their own. Whichis why we have a bucket of grenades and not enough to
(32:19):
go around. Well, originally they had enough to goaround, but when you throw too many out the window,
you don't have a lot of extra. Literally throw itout the window. Yeah. Oh, my word. But that's my
story. I have a story for you. And I am going to behonest and tell you that I have known this story was
(32:44):
coming since episode 117. Wow. Yeah. The SAS raidno one knew about. Okay. Okay. So did you get your
hands on? Was it I choose the storm? No. Wasn't thatthe book? There's many books. Oh, okay. I, okay.
(33:13):
How do I start this? In learning about the trainrobbery at the CCHI, I learned about like adjacent
to major Kerry Ewells or Ellis. I learned aboutanother figure in the SAS. And my poor husband has
(33:37):
never been more info dumped on in his life. Since Itold that first story, I have been learning about
this individual I have been stewing on andgatekeeping in the most jealous way, but also been
telling you stories that lead up to it. That said, Ithought it would be really fun to tell you the story
(34:02):
of the SAS, but in the frame of Lieutenant ColonelRobert Blair Patty Main, who is officially my hero
of heroes. I know that there's a lot of characterswe've done that I said like, oh my God, I love that
guy. He's my hero. But this one tops them all in mybook. Even Jack Churchill. So this is your love of
(34:25):
love. Pretty much like when, when I tell you theamount of times I have turned a conversation to
Patty Main and Ian has literally just rolled hiseyes. It's like, oh, I bet you can make that go back
to Patty Main. I love all of this for me. And I'mactually kind of hurt that you've kept it from me. I
(34:47):
have, dude, the amount of stories that I haveshared leading up to this, like I've, I didn't want
to do him while I was still in school because Iwanted to be able to like commit time to reading the
books that have been written about the SAS and thathad been written specifically about him without
having like the glute, like the cloud of schoolwork over me, right? But in the meantime, I've been
(35:16):
picking up stories here and there that I'm like, ohmy gosh, that directly relates to this outcome
that I'm like so curious about. So I've dropped youOperation Underworld and a handful of them. And as
I go through this, you will see where, where thoseother stories show up. So all that to say, did you
(35:41):
know, I just have to ask this is the total aside, butdid you know that there's a difference between
lieutenant and lieutenant? No, I thought it wasaccent, like aluminum, aluminum. So did I. So
they're the same rank. The reason that the, you,this is so stupid to me. The reason that the US has
(36:04):
lieutenants instead of left tenants and PS,they're spelled the same. It's just the way you
pronounce it. Okay. So you're proving my point sofar, but carry on. It is accent based, but there's a
reason for it. When the US was fighting theRevolutionary War, instead of modeling our
military after the British military, because ofthat too, we're fighting against, we modeled our
(36:27):
military after the French military. They havelieutenants, not left tenants. The English added
the F. Right. That feels like the very Frenchiestthing to do. Yeah. So let's let that stew in your
brain. Okay. For a while. All right. Yeah. Thanks.I hate it. You're welcome. So I have a ton of
(36:55):
sources. However, today, um, today's portion,this is going to be a series of stories. Today's
portion, the bulk of it comes from a book calledPity Main by Hamish Ross. It features a wonderful
forward by Mike Sadler, who was the like wizard of anavigator for the FAS. Um, and Hamish Ross, his
(37:20):
book is like a, not an autobiography, oh my God, abiography of Pity Main's life. And it's
phenomenal. And then there are three books byDamien Lewis, Brothers in Arms, Church Hill
Special Forces, during World War II's darkesthour. SAS Forged in Hell and SAS Dagger's Drawn.
(37:43):
I'm excited by this because I've almost bought acouple of those books and went, I'll come back for
you. They are so good. So good. They are, um, what Ireally appreciated about him is you get a real
sense of what's actually happening on the ground.Like he does a great, very detailed job of the
battles themselves that they fought. But morethan that, he includes so much like letters home
(38:12):
and journal entries from the actual SAS and fromthe members that were there on the ground that you
really get to see the people. And it's not just thislike over-exaggerated storytelling, right?
Like this is the muck and the grime in the quietmoments of reflection. And you get to kind of see
(38:32):
that all throughout the books. And I've just, Icannot speak more, more highly of them. They're so
good. So that's, that's the bulk of my, my sources.And then there is, um, the National Rugby, um,
historical website that I had to use. For today's,uh, bit. So without further ado, on January 11th,
(38:57):
1915, in, I'm going to pronounce this wrong, eventhough I said it right so many times, Newton Ards.
Oh, I said it right. Newton Ards County downIreland, a man who would later be akin to having a
bit of unexploded ordinance to him would be born.Yep. I'm sorry. Repeat that. He is considered to
(39:21):
have a bit of unexploded ordinance. And you saidhe's born. He was born on January 15th, later in
life. Born with the ordinance? No, later in life,he would be described as being a bit of unexploded
ordinance. Oh, he, that is his personality. Yes.Okay. Thank you because I was so lost and confused.
(39:44):
I was like, I apologize. Was I gave you a birth andthen it's a firecracker. What the heck? No, I gave
you birth and then I gave you a character traitright off the bat. He was the second youngest of
seven siblings. His parents were William andMargaret Main. Mom was the daughter of a wealthy
(40:06):
linen merchant and his father was a successfulbusinessman as well. So they grow up, you know,
well, they're not, they're doing okay. Yeah,they're, they're, they're doing just fine. Um, I
do want to stop right here though until you really,two really fun facts about his family real quick.
(40:27):
Firstly, he's named after his mother's cousin whojust before he had been born was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order for quote, rescuingwounded comrades without regard for his own
safety while coming under heavy and sustainedfire because Blair was born right in the thick of
World War one. Oh, right. And those words wouldring so true for him later being named after his
(40:55):
cousin. Additionally, his family could tracetheir lineage several generations back to the
area around his birthplace. Not only that, but hisgreat grandmother was Francis O'Neill of the very
ancient clan O'Neill who can follow their lineageto Irish roots of at least 700 years. And just as
(41:17):
impressive as their European roots all the wayback to 360 AD. Oh, okay. Like they got paperwork.
They have receipts. They got the receipts. So ourboy grows up in this wonderfully idyllic place in
childhood. Like I think for the first time, ourhero actually had a great upbringing and family
(41:38):
life. We've had a couple. I can't think of anotheroff the top of my head. Yeah. I mean, I'm I see it.
Well, I mean, okay, you look at Tallulah. Oh, yeah.You know, she was heavily indulged and spoiled
rotten and then put through all time for the rest ofthe schools. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah, at
(42:05):
least that. I'll let I'll let Tallulah. Okay.Tallulah and Blair, they're their friends. Okay.
So he, I love this part. So he's had this greatfamily life much later when Blair was an adult and
his father passed away, well, relatives wouldwrite of quote, Willie Maine saying things like
(42:28):
the head of our clan being a true gentleman who wasso good hearted, nothing would annoy him. Another
would say if he had lived to see his boys come homevictorious, it would have been a glorious
meeting. Right. Um, Maine was raised hunting. Hewas somewhat of a marksman fishing, playing all
sorts of sports. They say that they all excelled atsports, but when they mentioned that, they only
(42:53):
mentioned the boys, but something tells me thegirls went out and played sports with dad too. Like
I don't think that it was just, just the boys, butspecifically the boys are very athletic. Um,
brothers in arms. The first book about him saysthat their home was called Mount Pleasant and it
sat on 40 acres and it was quote, a singularlymusical, convivial place. And that young Blair
(43:18):
showed love for Irish folk songs and the works ofthe singer and poet Percy French, who was a bit of a
comedian in his, in his works. In school, he wasseen as shy, even bookish, which are a couple of
traits you see from him, his whole life. However,on the field of the rugby is where he would really
(43:43):
stand out. It's here that he lets down his guard andhis leadership skills really come to the
forefront. By the time he's 18, he's captain of thelocal Orange rugby club. This is wild when you
consider that there are several far older and moreexperienced players. When you look at photos of
(44:03):
the rugby club from the time, it shows a fresh babyfaced man sitting next to Baldwin and Beards. And
he's their appointed leader. Yeah. And, and theyare 100% okay with it. The club reports that
Maine's quote enthusiasm and thoroughness madehim an ideal leader. Again, these traits are going
(44:28):
to be seen over and over again, especially once hejoins the SIS, but he is also of the age to be going to
school. So he gets an education in law at QueensUniversity at Belfast where he qualifies as a
solicitor, which is like, I don't think the man.Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think he ever like
(44:49):
stopped doing something. I think he was justalways, always going to be excelling or always
going to be trying to excel at whatever it is that heputs his mind to. And there's like no idle time.
It's here that he would also play golf and cricket.And he was pretty fabulous at both, but he just for
(45:11):
context here, he's just over six, two. He's gotthis build that the French would later refer to as a
l'armoir. So he's, he's built like an arm, war.Yeah. He dude is just big. Um, I can't stop to get
about the fact that he is the same size as my son. AndI'm like, yep. Okay. Got it. Um, so he's got this
(45:37):
build and this athleticism to him and he's got thisgreat long reach and it helps make him the Irish
university's heavyweight boxing champion in1936. Uh, this checks. Right. He's got all these
things going for him by the following year. Hewould represent Ireland against Wells at lands
down road. It's, this is the final round of thatyear's like home nation championship and rugby.
(46:02):
So that's kind of a big deal. And then he would go onto be catch for Ireland several more times,
perhaps as many as 17, but I get a little differinganswers depending on which source I'm looking at.
Um, being capped cause I had, I didn't know whatthis was. I don't know much about rugby, but
evidently, I don't think it's just rugby related,but being kept is kind of like the equivalent of
(46:25):
being chosen to compete for your country in theOlympics. So it's like the highest athletic award
you can get. You make the national team.Basically, right? Okay. So 1938 rolls round and he
is selected to play for the British Lions tour inSouth Africa. And this is where my love for this guy
(46:46):
just really starts to show. So the Lions, they losetheir first test, but the South African
newspaper, which according to Mr. Lewis is notknown to praise athletes outside of South Africa,
said that Maine was quote, an outstanding wasquote, outstanding in a pack, which gamely and
(47:09):
entirely untiringly stood up to the tremendoustask. They would also go on to say that Maine was the
finest all round forward I had ever seen in hismagnificently built for the part in staying
power. He has to be seen to be believed. Right.Another Irish forward for the game of rugby called
(47:30):
Danny clinch said that Maine was the roughest andstrongest man he had ever known. Right. Mr. Lewis
has this really great visual in one of the books. Hesays quote, in the third and final test against
South Africa at Cape Town famous Newland Stadium,slogan, we never lose at Newlands. There were
(47:52):
eight Irishmen, Maine included in the startinglineup. At the end of the match, the crowd lifted
the visiting captain Walker and his teammates ontheir shoulders for the Lions had confounded all
expectations, winning the match 21 points to 16.Maine himself was acclaimed as being outstanding
in the open and magnificent in defense. Okay. Solet me repeat what I heard so you can correct my
(48:17):
understanding. The visiting team comes play sowell that the home crowd is so impressed that they
hoist the opposing team on their shoulders andbasically saying for he's a really good fellow.
That's that's exact same visual that I got. Yeah.Okay. Right. He's a bit far fetched. I haven't seen
(48:42):
this Disney film before. I think what it is is this,this level of sportsmanship amongst these
players. Like these guys come in and they are justthese beasts and the South Africans are so
impressed, both the plate, the South Africanplayers and the South African fans. They're just
(49:05):
what do we do but with them on our shoulder? It'sthis magnificent match. Well done. Like I think it
was just down to sportsmanship. That's my opinionof it. Um, his mates, both at home and for the Lions
that they said that he was intensely loyal and thetype of loyalty was not often seen. Again, we see
(49:26):
this characteristic time and time again in hislife. But let me just take a minute to regale you
with two of my favorite moments from these tripsfrom this trip to South Africa. And I think that
these stories really set the stage for the rest ofthis man's life. So there's a dance. He and his team
(49:47):
are all requested to attend. So it's this black tieaffair, right? Um, he's bored. He's so bored. He
does not want to stand around. He's not in all thebooks I read and all the things that I've listened
to. It's not that he is not want for the company ofwomen. It's just that he is shy. And until he gets to
(50:12):
know you, he doesn't, like, he doesn't do thatregular gentleman, like, outland just try to get
to know every lady in the room sort of saying, likehe just, if you're, if you're worth his salt,
that's great. If not, that's also great. He's fineeither way. He would rather go read a book if we're
(50:33):
being honest. Like, so he's bored. He's at thestance. It's a black tie event. He is bored to
death. So he decides he's going to go for a strolland he just simply disappears. Just guys don't see
him again for the rest of the night. In fact, hewould not be seen again until mid morning, the next
(50:54):
day. Wherein he would be seen strutting into theteam's hotel with his suit all rumbled and bloody,
a bit askew with a dead spring block atop hisshoulders. Okay. How was the spring block off?
Allow me to tell you, but first he goes straight tohis teammate, Jimmy, unwinds room and dumps the
(51:19):
animal on his bed announcing fresh meat. Unwind tothis point on the trip had spent the whole time
whining about the lack of meat on the tour. So,Maine's just solving a problem, right? He,
unwind, was not impressed. So Maine hauled thespring block up, back up, carried it out of the
(51:41):
window and onto the ledge and hung it outside theroom of the South African coach with a note
announcing fresh meat. So what had happened waswhen he got bored of the dance and decided to go for a
walk, he is at like a coffee stall, like a streetvendor. And he meets a group of locals who invite
(52:03):
him to go hunting. So he borrows the rifle, heborrows rifle, shoots the buck and brings it back
to the hotel room. But of course, that's what youdo. He is ever pleased with himself and does not see
this behavior as odd at all. When the JohannesburgStar heard of the incident, they would declare it
(52:24):
an act of his full measure of Irish wit andimagination. Like nobody is bothered by this.
Live your life, buddy. I mean, at this lead up, he'seither going to be a serial killer or an incredible
person of history. This could go either way. Itcould be. I promise you, incredible person of
(52:49):
history is going to be the outcome. Now, while he isin South Africa, in the rest of the world, the.
Sudenton land would become part of Germany, thehome of our night. Joseph Manchuk from my story
last week. Okay. I'm starting to see the throughlines through lines. Right. Okay. So let me tell
(53:14):
you the final tidbit of my story this week. It'sgoing to shed some light on Maine's moral compass.
So he is a firm believer in the underdog and a fierceadversary of the bully of all sorts. So Maine and
his teammate, a Welshman called Bill Travers,they meet a fellow that they call Rooster and they
set out to help him. Rooster is a black man and aconvict. Now remember they are in South Africa,
(53:41):
who was serving seven years for stealing achicken. This doesn't sit well with Maine and
Travers. So they cut his chains and give them theirclothes so he can make a getaway. Unfortunately,
Rooster was recaptured and when he returned, hereturned home wearing a blazer with Maine's name
sewn into the collar. Yeah, that's, that's goingto, that's going to out him. Oh, no, a little bit, do
(54:08):
you think? Maine would be known for always doingwhat he believed was right, often being law until
himself, even if it was opposed to beingdiplomatic or would not benefit. If it was right,
it was the right thing to do, whether itinconvenienced him or not. Now later, this is
(54:29):
going to prove invaluable for his men who see hisactions and see his behavior as kind of the only way
to be. However, because he sort of takes thesituation into his own hands, high command can't
(54:49):
deal with it. You can't tell Patty Maine, no, PattyMaine is going to do what Patty Maine is going to do.
And you just have to sit back and watch the fall out.That doesn't seem like what you would want for a
subordinate and the armed forces. Well, nextweek, I'll tell you about his time in number 11
(55:10):
commando and how he finds himself with the SAS. Oh,I didn't realize I was giving you a segue. I thought
you were going to spend the next several hoursgiving me story time. I could totally spend the
next several hours giving me story time. But Ithought that the end of the South African tour
would be a great breaking point for my story thisweek, because this kind of encapsulated his youth
(55:38):
and his younger years. So just as a recap, he is 22.He is a lawyer and he is an international rugby
player. War has not been particularly called outyet. So it troubles brewing, but nobody is set to
(56:01):
worry. Correct. And this is a man who, for whatother reason, is uniquely suited for the job at
hand. No, not a psychotic serial killer. I haven'twatched anything but a couple of minutes of SAS
Rogue Heroes because I didn't want to have theresearch that all of these authors have put in
(56:27):
tainted by what Hollywood has decided to describeas any of these people. But when I'm done, when I'm
done with all my reading, I will, because it seemsfun, but I did watch about five minutes of an
episode yesterday or like a compilation ofepisodes yesterday. And it paints Tidy Main in
(56:49):
this light of being just this crazy Berserker typefellow that screams and has this huge attitude
problem. And that's not really the real Tidy Main.Like, yeah, he's been known to have an attitude
problem. And yeah, he's maybe raised his voiceonce real solidly, but he wasn't. He was a quiet guy
(57:17):
you didn't want to mess with. Okay. Okay, I likethis. Yeah. So I need you to know that I love him so
much that I actually have his sticker on the back ofmy surface. What is his, you can't show me because
that's the reverse of the screen. I can't see. Allright, you need to take a picture and send it to me.
(57:37):
Oh, but I do have a couple of pictures of young TidyMain. Please and thank you. You're welcome. Let
me. I just realized that I completely forgot that Ihave this picture of these photos. Hello, share.
There we go. My share button disappeared. So thisis during his time as a rugby player. He looks like
(58:06):
Captain America. I actually could call himCaptain Britain. But I mean, you know what I mean?
Like what's the actor that plays him? Oh my gosh,Chris Evans. Yes, he looks like Chris Evans. Like
this is Chris Evans father. Notice the black andwhite. Notice the rugby polo. Yeah. Very hot hair.
(58:31):
The man has a neck the size of Scarlet O'Hara'swaist. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great description
right there. So that's him during his time playingrugby. This, the following picture is probably
one of my favorite pictures of him. So this isduring his tour in North Africa. For this one, he's
(58:53):
got kind of a scruffy looking beard. He's looking asconce at the camera. He's got a jumper to borrow
the British term for sweater over his uniformshirt. Now, for fun, this picture doesn't show all
(59:14):
of it, but I think what that device is next to him,that he's standing behind, is the, the SAS
developed a massive love affair for the AmericanJeep Willys and they mount Vickers K machine guns
all over them. And I believe that is the back endmount of one of them. However, for funsies, just as
(59:41):
a side note, they do not call them willy jeeps likewe do. They call them Willis and it makes me smile
every time I hear it. Well, I mean, let's face it,you know, they're, they're a bit more formal than
we are. Yep. Those the Willis jeeps. That's theirfavorite mode of transportation are the, the
willy jeeps. So that's my, one of my favoritepictures of him. However, the sticker that I have
(01:00:07):
is not that. It's him wearing like driving. He'sgot the goggles on. So the sandstorms don't get him
in the eye. Okay. I'm here for that. And so I'massuming I just now get to know him name and you can
pray that I don't do my own research on him. If you doyour own research on him, I'll be simply
devastated because I have read so many books andwatched so many YouTube's that you just need to let
(01:00:33):
me tell his story. I will. Hey, I will. I will.Especially since you've been working on this for
half a year. Thank you so much. Yeah, I do what I can.Appreciate you. And Ian thanks you as well because
maybe now I won't info Dumbun Ian today because Iinfo Dumbun you. So what I'm hearing is we're going
to be recording episodes daily. He wouldappreciate it just so he doesn't have to hear Patty
(01:00:58):
Maine's name all day. I'm sure of it. Meanwhile incouples therapy. First of all, I would like to
point out that I know about Patty Maine because hefound the story about the pastiche train robbery
and by sheer like happenstance while I was lookingup information on that Patty Maine's name was
(01:01:25):
brought up and I was like, who is this this dashingrogue? I need I need to know. So he fully is aware of
what he's done. And he also supports it and buys thebooks so he can't complain in couple therapy. I
mean, he can but does he have much of a leg to standon? Not not a one. It's like that scene in what
(01:01:48):
happens in Vegas when Ashton Kutcher shows up totherapy and he's got the black eye but the boss
already has the video of him giving it to himself.Yeah. That's the story. Okay. Well, if you've
enjoyed this weird incredible mashup of storiesand you're thinking, I can't wait to hear the next
(01:02:10):
installment of Eddie Maine, nor is it any man orPatty Maine? Patty Maine, Patty Maine. So he went
by Blair Patty is the nickname that every Irishmanin World War II got. They were all called Patty, but
he didn't mind it. But Blair was his what his thepeople closest to him called called him. Okay. If
(01:02:36):
you've enjoyed this mashup of how South Korea didit to themselves and the SAS member that you've
never heard of and you can't wait to learn more tunein next week. And actually, you know what? Share
this with your favorite unsung hero, the personwhose lore you know would be a great nonfiction 491 01:02:56,930 --> biography. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Goodbye. Bye.
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