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Mark Smith needs a TV series talking about medals, incredible way of bring the people back to life

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

What an incredible man, he shows so much respect to the original owners of the medals and a great historian.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

He was a pleasure to have on the show, Thank you for watching.

The first time I heard Mark talk about medals I found something warm and gripping in his voice and the way he tells the stories.

Mark Smith , what an amazing man , thanks Phil great show again .

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Brilliant!!! what an interesting bloke! I could listen to him for ages..Top marks for getting him Phil!!:)

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

What an amazing guy your are Mark thanks for your service both of you

I have my grandad’s WW2 medals, cap badge and photo in a frame on the wall, was the reason I joined the cadets as a kid and then the army in 1975 aged 16. He won’t be forgotten.

@ForceRadioHQ

9 күн бұрын

Thanks for sharing

The only debrief to have me in tears, history aand family remembered

@ForceRadioHQ

3 күн бұрын

Wow, Thank you for watching

Who is Mark? He is an expert on British medals and, more importantly, the stories behind them. Keep up the great work, Mark. Bless you.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

I knew a member of the Guinea pig club in my childhood, he was scary to look at as a child in the 60's. Wish I was older and could have given him the respect he deserved.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

Brilliant...! LEST WE FORGET🇬🇧

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

Watched twice - I collect British military medals- brilliant podcast 🇬🇧

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for your support!

If only you could get Mark, back once a month with a few medals to tell us the back story of the people and how they won them. Perhaps an hour split into four 15 minute segments on each recipient?

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion!

Brilliant, yes in every corner of the world 🌎,medals are cherished,

Great interview. My grandad was a gunner in the navy during WW2 and my grandma was a land army girl. My grandad loved his ship and had lots of black & white photos of it hung on his walls at home. They used to try tell us stories when we were kids about the war and I wish so much I’d listened now.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

When you held the Waterloo and Balaclava medals that was very special, brilliant once again

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching, Dave! 🙌🏻

I have 27 ancestors who served in WW1, I have all their Info, from my 2 great grandfather's, to great great uncles, and 1st cousins 3 times removed, I'm extremely proud of every single one of them, between them they fought in every battle on the western front. They served in multiple regiments and even for Canada and Indian regiments,, I've 9 my learned this in the last 12 months as my cousin is a geaneologist and has tirelessly researched and found them all,,, I'd love to talk to Mark about them, wat a fantastic feature, bravo Mark

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

This honestly wouldn't have been a podcast i would have sought out, but im so glad it played automatically because i thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish! Excellent!

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Fantastic interview. The story behind each medal. My dad sat me down and told me a quick story about each of his medals I wish I'd written it down. He passed away 2 months later.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Sorry for your loss.

In dads army Captain colonel Square said of Cpl Jones medals that hey where an illuminated history of the British Empire

Great episode, really moving story to know that especially with the medals with no names but still representing a persons story 👍

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

I remember seeing the sword of Captain Noel Chavasse VC & bar MC displayed in the officers mess of 208 field hospital RAMC in Liverpool in the 80s

Fascinating, Mark, thanks.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

Intrestingly enough I met a gentleman on St Catherines Grove who was a member of the Guinea Pig club in the 1990s, i believe he went to the hospital at No 4 RAF Hospital Rauceby. If my memory serves me right there was marker plates on the wall of the buiding at Rauceby where guniea pigs where treat . In 1940 the building was taken over by the Royal Air Force; renamed as No.4 RAF Hospital Rauceby, it became a crash and burns unit under the control of nearby RAF Cranwell. During its tenure as a burns unit plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe worked at the facility, along with other members of the "Guinea Pig Club".[3] The wartime Burns Unit was situated in Orchard House, built alongside the hospital orchard.[4] There was a major fire in the hall in 1945 and it was badly damaged although it was subsequently restored.[1] The RAF handed the hospital back for civilian use in 1947 and it joined the National Health Service as Rauceby Hospital in 1948 although patients did not actually return until 1949.[1]

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

The hospital is not in Kent its in East Grinstead Sussex....

What a interesting episode. I am lucky enough to have one of my Grandfathers original medals (UK service only) and WWII era copies for my other grandfather who was captured at the Battale of Arras in 1940 and spent the rest of the War as a PoW in Poland and germany until his release in 1945.

Jackie Mann ( the former hostage in Lebanon ) was a member of the Guineapig Club.

Writing this now I am looking at my grandfather’s mounted and framed set of medals from WW2. Sadly they are copies because he lent the originals to someone for a parade and they were never returned. There are many ways that they get lost or stolen. I hadn’t realised that the originals were not engraved with his details so in a way it makes the fact that the set I have now are copies less of a thing. This was a great podcast.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and sharing!

I loved this episode, saw some medals that's within my family, and Phil looking thoroughly interested and humbled. ✌️🇬🇧

Mark Smith is an incredible man.

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching

Melvin and Coghill escaped with the colours at the battle of ishandlwa and they were both killed and the colours ended up in the river and about thirty years ago they were found and are now in Brecon Cathedral and the memorial to Melvin and Coghill.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing

Absolutely great interview. I had the great pleasure of meeting Mark his knowledge is incredible top guy Mark hope to catch up when I hit the uk

Great show as always Phil from a oldswet my self an ex'service AB ALL THE WAY BROTHER 😊😊

@ForceRadioHQ

16 күн бұрын

Thanks for your support as always!

@JayMac-gh1kx

16 күн бұрын

Ur welcome brother!! Ur welcome m8t big thanks again 4all of ur shows 4rom me an my family members to u all at the show the team n ur family Phil have a grate wk n wknd etc ok bro cheers man!!

Great interview , many thanks .

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching! We really appreciate it!

Keep up the good work. The diversity of guests is really interesting. You maybe should interview some lads who have been really successful after leaving the forces. Like Bruce Compton, or the scottish fellow who runs old folks homes etc.

@ForceRadioHQ

21 күн бұрын

We are always looking for new guests! 😁

Brilliant 👍 I know a chap that's now in the resevers that has 16 medals from regular and reserve service, I've kept all my boxes from 1980 to now 👍.

@ForceRadioHQ

Ай бұрын

Nice one!

This brought me to tears. Wonderful

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

Brilliant show, very educational and emotional.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@GrahamRozee

3 ай бұрын

@@ForceRadioHQ no thankyou Phil, I've enjoyed watching all your podcasts with force radio as you seem to get the best out of all of those you interview. One question I have always wanted to ask you is, are you the SAS soldier that during a hostage rescue mission the first thing you did after getting into position was get a brew on whilst firing at the enemy ?

What a brilliant interview!.Really enjoyed it. Thank you.

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

I have some medals from my Grandfather. Passed down to my dad. To me. The medals are from the first world war. All are obviously over 100 years old. It still fascinates me even now. This small piece of 100+ year old metal and ribbon. With 100 years of dirt, grime, wear and tear. I've never had them cleaned and polished.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

These podcasts are always entertaining, some great guests but I genuinely learned a lot from this one. Guy Gibson's VC would be priceless!!!

@ForceRadioHQ

24 күн бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Great Idea! Very different type of topic to your usual. I've heard many recent servicemen slating medal collectors, sometimes with good reason but i think most collectors really do keep their memory alive. Lets face it, most people these days don't give a shit. They've ended up in the market because they're viewed as 'the past '

Have a long deceased relative Louis Strange RAF has a amazing set of medals and story that are displayed in Dorchester, my son is named after him.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing.

Such a lovely interview, having done battlefield tours and in particular where my grandad fought in WW1, it is always the persons personal story that I first thought of, thank you

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for your support! 😁

Excellent, as a fellow medal collector I really enjoyed this, and could relate straight away when he mentioned the human element behind the medals, I always think about this side. Thank you.

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

Excellent

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much 😀

@martinsmith6049

2 ай бұрын

@@ForceRadioHQ I imagine most of us who get these military feeds get a lot of the same thing and after 25 years of internet... But this guy was outside the loop, yet part of our story. The Balaclava/Chinese guns for the VC was an eye opener for me, big lad. Loved your story about the big pink settee in Kabul, BTW. I burst out laughing at that.

To recipients 99.999% of the time medals sit in drawers getting tarnished and neglected. I'm not ashamed to say I sold mine as they were never on my chest and at the time I needed hard cash for a deposit. I don't regret selling mine for a second

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing

Just brilliant show

@ForceRadioHQ

14 күн бұрын

Thank you for watching!

A fascinating episode, I will now have to do more research into my great-uncle who, I understand he was from Walthamstow served in the Essex Regiment died in Egypt of the Flu but was believed to have been involved in the Palestine campaign against the Turks. The rest of the family medal are German and Austro -Hungarian.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

There's a 20 stone 6ft bearded and tattoed bloke here with tears in his eyes hearing those stories behind the medals. Fantastic watch/listen. Very very interesting

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Very interesting stuff. It's also nice to see Les Battersby looking so well

Recently I visited the local cemetery in Wareham Dorset. You see WWII graves post the war. Sailors that wash up on the beach and found after the war. Very sad.

@ForceRadioHQ

16 күн бұрын

Thanks for sharing

wow this is epic

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching 👊

enjoyed this one phil keep them coming

Very interesting. Cheers.

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

What a brilliant podcast, so inspirational and exceptionally edicational, was almost away at the guy dying the last day, Thanks for that, this should be taught in schools up and down the country,

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for watching! 😁

Superb .... very moving stories.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Glad you liked it

I really enjoyed that, fascinating to hear those stories.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for watching

Keep up the good work top shows Big Phil

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the support!

I Agree !!

Great Pod, as others have said, could listen to Mark for hours, alwasy enjoy his bits on the telly box, well dont Phil and team.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the support!

Very interesting 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Everyone I know wear mounted replicas - the originals usually remain in their boxes unmounted.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching

Great episode Phil, very interesting 👍

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for the support!

Successive governments have been crapping on the military and veterans for centuries, we have always been able to rely on our military, rarely our government

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Another good one

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

wow thanks so much for the support!

Gem, what a fantastic show

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for the support

Bloody dust in my eyes.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

What a great interview

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for watching.

Best podcast out there. Keep making them.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

🙏🤩 Thank you

Only just started and soo looking forward too this discussion 👍🏼

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

We hope you enjoyed the podcast!

Very interesting man.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Perhaps we should have him back on for another show!

Fantastic show Phil, love the podcast 👏 👍

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for the support!

Great show, Many Thanks........My 6 are likely worthless 🤣

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for watching!

My Dads medal group has 14 including the BEM.

@ForceRadioHQ

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!

@VonDutch68

2 ай бұрын

@@ForceRadioHQ I probably should have also mentioned that my Dads medals cover Korea, Malaya, Borneo and 2 tours of Vietnam. And as an ex matelot myself, might I say, BZ Phil !

If you watch the film The Battle of Britain, there’s an RAF officer in that who is a member of the Guinea Pig Club, for real.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

13 years service went around the globe on "operations" and not 1 medal on my chest..were did i go wrong

Mark is also good company for a night out and a few drinks.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

We don't doubt that! Thanks for watching!

I served in Belfast in 1973 and when returning to my station Brize Norton I was asked if I wanted my medal GSM I said no the worst thing I have ever done as I got older I realised my gross mistake I have tried to re apply for my medal and I have been told they have no record of my service at Sydenham airfield which was the major diversion airfield for Aldergrove as I stand at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day I feel so sad I was proud to have been a member of the RAF Fire Service I am now 71 I wish I had my gong

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing, sorry about your medal

@pooooornopigeon

2 күн бұрын

You deserve your medal.

The Hospital is the Queen Victoria in East Grinstead which still has tributes to the guinea pig club

My Grandad WW2 didn’t send for his, he said if they couldn’t be bothered to send them he couldn’t be bothered to send for them.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing

@user-td8hw2se7z

3 ай бұрын

@@ForceRadioHQ we are now in the process of getting his records to try and find his story, he did tell some of it when he was alive but he would tell me one story but not his sons, we have all since talked about this to find he told us all different bits.

The tax free bounty now for a VC has been raised to £10,000 a year

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing

I would like to know, what the Australian VC is made of?

@jbuckley2546

3 ай бұрын

He says in the podcast.

Lost my NI medal but i know who i am.

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

💪🏻

Permission for bottom lip to wibble Sir! 😢🤕🥵🤧🤓🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!

@ianjacques-keen9137

2 ай бұрын

@@ForceRadioHQ Mr Campion, you won’t remember meeting me , but in 2019/20 you pulled into the gates at 42 Commando Royal Marines at Bickleigh Barracks in Plymouth in your Range Rover with your Wife in the car. You spoke to an MPGS Sergeant on the gate guarding the unit and were kind enough to say hello and shake his hand. That was me and I was very please to meet you. 🤓🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

P getting emotional

@ForceRadioHQ

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching.

This is a podcast,three msm churnalists talking about the same shit they talk about on msm ain't

It's a shame that those Medals don't mean shit! In when it comes to protecting Baby Rapping, Gangs! In your Country, as much.uch as yous do in mine, as much as the Local Member of Parliament, does.

I traced one of my ancestors medals (not yet found). He was awarded the punjab medal, Indian Mutiny and the LSGC. But I noticed that his LSGC medal would have had the same ribbon as the VC. That must be why they added the two white stipes to the edges.

@Wut3225

Күн бұрын

No it wasn’t changed due to that.

@stevesharpe361

Күн бұрын

@@Wut3225 In 1916 a new ribbon began to be used for the medal, as published in Army Order 183 of June 1916, to distinguish it from the ribbon of the Victoria Cross.