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David FreelOf white Rhodesian origin, Dave Freel was a veteran of that conflict in the late 1970ﾒs having served in the Rhosdesian Light Infantry and the Selous Scouts and incidentally knew Lieutenant Ronnie Pereversov (see separate entry) from those days. He later served in the South African armed forces, seeing action in Angola and had worked in London as a bodyguard. He first came to Croatia in 1991 and served as a foreign volunteer in the forerunner of the Croatian Armed Forces, the Croatian National Guard (ZNG-RH) and later the Croatian Army (HV) where he acquitted himself well amongst the other regular soldiers of his unit. The following year he transferred to the King Tomislav Brigade of the HVO where he was regarded by his colleagues as an ﾓexcellentﾔ and ﾓsuperbﾔ soldier. Unfortunately during periods of inactivity he was subject to periods of deep depression; he felt he was a man who had lost his home and his country, he was divorced from his wife and had become very lonely.Dave was on leave in Split when he shot himself in the head. It was reported by a close friend that he had been in a severe depression for about two to three days. The likelihood that he had succumbed to battle shock cannot be ruled out as he had seen three years of action in Rhodesia and now many months of intense fighting in Croatia and Bosnia.
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