It’s the early 1990s and Yugoslavia is splintering into various states.
The civil unrest is at its height.
On the mean streets through the darkness
a low rumble and a whistle of wind is heard.
A menacing shadow races through the darkness.
In the distance, soldiers check their radar and thermal imaging cameras
to see what is approaching,
but to their surprise nothing shows up.
The soldiers nervously cross themselves as they check their radar once more.
Now they can hear a whoosh of a night beast rushing towards them,
ducking for cover they manage to make out a monstrous form
as it roars by and disappears into the distance.
Inside the vehicle a momentarily flicker of light.
The man at the wheel is no avenging angel.
This man fights for good.
Delivering essential supplies to those in greatest need.
He is known among the US forces.
His name given in jest, is one he is proud of.
This man is God’s Rambo, and his mighty steed is his Ghost Camaro.
Returning back to base, Helge Meyer exits his car.
Helge is Danish
and was previously part of the Danish Jaegerkorps special forces.
He also learned Guerilla warfare, training with the US Green berets,
without which Helge concedes he would not be alive today.
Despite his excellent military training, he was a strongly religious man.
He felt a calling to help relieve the suffering of the victims of the Yugoslavian Civil War,
in particular the children of those most affected.
He tried unsuccessfully to get help to deliver supplies from the European forces.
Eventually he approached the US Army Commander
in Rhein Main Air Base in Germany
and told him he had an idea to deliver aid to those in need.
The former Yugoslavia was a lawless place at the time
and aid trucks rarely got through the perilous journey
to get to the starving population.
The roads and streets were strewn with rubble, frequently mined
and the Civil War meant that there were many forces
that wanted to stop aid getting through,
including bandits who would want to get the supplies for themselves.
Helge in particular wanted to help the most vulnerable,
the children and the elderly.
Desperate to do something to help,
the US commander agreed to Helge’s daring plan.
Helge purchased a donor car from a US serviceman.
A 1979 Camaro and he and a small team got to work.
A group of young men in a US Army base, working on a Camaro
was the recipe for a rather special custom job.
The Camaro was totally stripped down.
Armor was welded on to the underside and sides of the car.
The side windows and rear windows were replaced with steel plate
creating somewhat of a blind spot.
Thermal imaging cameras and night vision cameras were added
along with run flat tires.
Ground-to-air radio was installed
so that he could constantly be in contact with air support.
Due to the ever present danger on the roads,
the front of the car was fitted with a mine clearing blade
which gave the car a Mad Max appearance.
What’s more, the car was painted with a special matt black paint.
This gave the car a stealth power up,
rendering it very hard to spot on radar or thermal imaging.
It was totally black, with the exception of a bright yellow rubber duck mounted in the grill.
Of course the car was tuned giving it 220 horse power.
Despite all of the upgrades to the Camaro,
it was still able to carry 400 kg of supplies.
In addition the US soldiers raised $12,000 to help.
Meyer used it to buy medical supplies, food and clothes.
He then loaded it into his Camaro and set out into the Balkans.
We spoke to Helge
and he said he could not have done his job helping kids and old people
without the help of the US Army
and the US Air Force from Rhein Main airbase.
They were the only ones who wanted to help.
The relief missions were perilous.
Traveling mainly at night, on back roads,
Meyer had to dodge bandits and small arms fire.
Car chases were an occupational hazard on these delivery runs
with Helge playing cat and mouse with the bad guys.
On many occasions he was nearly caught,
but the Ghost Camaro had one more trick in its arsenal.
Nitrous Oxide injection.
In a chase, with a flick of a switch
Meyer could double the power output of the car to 440 horse power.
With his knowledge of the streets, air support and timing his nitrous “power shots”
Helge had all the tools he needed in his arsenal.
He would drive to his destination in bad-ass battle dress
and then get changed into civilian clothes
so that he would not scare the children
when handing them out toys and medicine.
Lt Col Blaine W Hyten of the US Air Force said of Helge,
“You are truly one of a kind…
extending to the children of Bosnia a hope for a better tomorrow.
You are the BEST of the BEST.”
Despite the perilous conditions Meyer always went unarmed.
When asked why, he said the only weapon he needed was his Bible,
which he always took with him.
Earning him the nickname “God’s Rambo”.
If you can read German, then Meyer has written a book on his experience,
called "Gottes Rambo"
which is available on Amazon.
In one excerpt, he describes coming across a family
in the ruined city of Vares, in 1994:
"In the middle of the ruins
I examined the surrounding area with my detector,
which reacts to body heat.
It displayed body heat in the opposite ruin.
I saw candlelight through the boarded up door.
I knocked and the candle went out immediately.
After knocking again and saying, “Mr. Meyer U.S. Army!”
an old man opened the door and asked me inside.
A young woman was present with her newborn baby.
Everyone was dirty and clearly malnourished,
and I got soap, water and food, and baby food from my Camaro.
The young mother washed herself and her child
and gave the newborn something to eat.
We sat around the candle silent for a while,
the old man carefully reading his Koran and I in my Bible,
which is my constant companion.
Then I pulled back into my car,
was about to slip into my sleeping bag
when someone knocked on my window.
It was the young woman who put her baby on my bare chest.
I will never forget this moving moment in my life."
Meyer conducted over 100 supply runs on what was dubbed “The Bosnia Express”
doubtless bringing relief and hope to many lives.
He now lives in Germany.
He still has the Camaro.
It’s been painted bright orange and it has over 100,000 miles on the clock.
In a 2018 interview with the Danish newspaper Rinkoping Skjern Dagbladet
he said that he doesn’t want to be thought of as a hero,
but someone who wanted to help children.
He said, “I want to tell you that it is useful to do something,
even if you are alone and the circumstances are fatal,
and you don't have to drive into a war zone in a Camaro
filled with medicine and toys for children.
I could do that because I had the military training and my special connections.
It's about helping out on a daily basis and down to the smallest thing.
We can all do something to help others.”
We would also like to thank Helge Meyer for helping us with the details on this script.
Any the errors are entirely our own.