Harry (36) returns head over heels from ‘seedy’ legion from Ukraine: ‘I had no chance’ | Inland

He quit his job and drove a sponsored and fully loaded Ford Fusion with 800 euros worth of equipment to Ukraine. The fact that Ukraine no longer admits ex-servicemen and volunteers without combat experience to the Foreign Legion for the war against Russia did not bother Harry Vermeer. He went anyway.

His journey has become a deception. He has left Ukraine in a hurry and is now staying just across the border in Poland. ,,I took someone from the Netherlands to Ukraine at the last minute”, Vermeer tells this site. “He said he had good contacts there. But I thought it was way too mysterious and didn’t trust it.”

On the first arrival in Poland, Vermeer left all his things behind, because his comrade said that the Ukrainians would take care of everything. They crossed the border and were met there by recruiters who picked out foreign men.

“I was wearing a commando-like suit. They were shady men. The first thing they asked was, ‘Army, army?’ Then we were approached by aid workers who said that we should not deal with those people otherwise we would be dead within two or three days. This was not the official Foreign Legion I wanted to join. It was not right at all.”

Verrmeer read an interview with a British soldier who told horror stories about how foreign fighters were sent to the front without proper weapons. “He said that many Britons had already been shot. They were sent into war with a rusty AK-47 and 12 bullets. Some didn’t even have a weapon. I had no chance.”

The Spakenburger, who has a wife and a 3-year-old daughter at home, immediately returned across the border to Poland. Later, Vermeer tried again to cross the border. “But that didn’t work out,” he says. ,,I am in doubt. I think there is no other option than to go back to the Netherlands. It’s chaos there. If I hadn’t been warned by the emergency services, I would have been in deep shit right now.”