FreelanderSpecialist.com joins effort to provide medical support for Ukrainian defence force

The war in Ukraine has brought forth many stories of heroism over the last year, and of incredible acts of compassion shown towards the nation by people in Britain and all around the world. In the 4x4 world, the extraordinary efforts of Gordon Jackson-Hopps, a building surveyor from Norfolk, have seen him delivery humanitarian supplies, ferry refugees across the country, deliver children to relatives and help evacuate vulnerable civilian to neighbouring Romania.

Most recently, Gordon launched Operation Freelander – a project whose goal is to deliver a dozen vehicles to the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Force, which will use them to move casualties and aid. Each of the dozen Land Rover Freelanders needs to be sourced, prepared and equipped for use before being driven across Europe – with the first two being delivered just before Christmas by Gordon himself and Sue Maddock of FreelanderSpecialist.com.

Based in Methwold, Norfolk, Freelander Specialist is a family company which has become known for its expertise in everything to do with Land Rover’s original baby SUV – parts, service, repairs, mods, you name it. The company’s own expedition-prepped Freelander 1 is a self-propelled example of the potential within these vehicles, too.

As well as being part of the driving team, Freelander Specialist’s involvement in the project has seen it donate two 2004 Freelander Estates along with the time and knowledge required to check them over prior to being delivered to Ukraine.

However it is just one of several businesses to help make Operation Freelander happen. Bell Engineering donated new VCUs for the vehicles, Euro Car Parts helped out with spares and Camskill supplied the vehicles’ tyres – which were then fitted by Graham Gillis Autos in King’s Lynn. Speaking from the road across Europe, Sue also praised Nobert, Ngwenya and Mihai, ‘who have worked tirelessly to make sure these Freelanders can not only make the journey to Ukraine but can then perform their duties to save precious lives’, and Gordon’s wife Vicki – ‘who, even as we are driving, has been raising money to cover our fuel and costs.’

The driving itself started on 17 December, with an early ferry crossing followed by a marathon 16-hour journey to Krakow in Poland. ‘The sudden rush to get these Freelanders to Ukraine was because of a desperate plea from the medivac team of the 23rd Battalion of Special Assignment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,’ explains Sue. ‘Out of 80 medics in the Battalion, 50 have been killed or injured and most of the vehicles destroyed by shelling.’

To prepare it for its new life, one of the Freelanders had been fitted with a brand new heater matrix, thermostat, water pump and so on. Despite this, it lost all heating on the way to the ferry. With the vehicles being so desperately needed, however, turning back was not an option – leaving Gordon with the particularly grim task of driving across Europe in a temperature of about 12°C.

The following morning, having stopped to buy auxiliary heaters, Sue and Gordon continued towards the Ukrainian border with the latter driving in full cold-weather gear and wearing a balaclava. The temperature had dropped still further, meaning the heaters were no use – and worse yet, at one point one of them fell to the floor next to Gordon’s feet, distracting him enough for the Land Rover to end up in a field next to the road.

’In my rear view mirror,’ says Sue, ‘I saw the Freelander swerving over the icy road, then the worst thing in the world happened and it went over the edge’ It was a steep drop into the field, deep in snow; there was no way the car was going down without rolling.

‘I pulled over and ran back, and to my absolute delight the Freelander was on all four wheels with Gordon moving through the thick snow. I never thought it was going to come out so easily.’ A little reminder of why the Ukrainians needed vehicles with real off-road ability – this was one little mis- hap along the way, but these vehicles are destined to work for their living on soggy battlefield where traction is essential every step of the way.

Even so, says Sue, the all-terrain tyres they had fitted were barely enough just for the road conditions. ‘We had been advised to cross into Ukraine at a more remote, less busy border post. As we left the beautiful main roads, we began to realise this was not the best advice we had received. These road conditions needed proper winter tyres!’ That was the prelude to Gordon’s wild ride, and after that Sue says the roads went from bad to worse. ‘Mountain passes with hairpin bends and steep falls, completely covered in ice and snow. What a slow journey that was!’

With the border now just two minutes away, the two vehicles were pulled over by the police for running a stop sign neither Sue nor Gordon had actually seen. What do you need most in your life when you’ve taken unpaid leave from work and sold personal possessions to fund a mercy run?

To be fined, of course. Charmingly, the Polish cops made Sue and Gordon stand outside while they sat in their warm car doing the paperwork. Not a good precursor for dealing with a border crossing, but happily the officials here were as good as the police had been bad. ‘After we finished with immigration and were moving on to customs,’ says Sue, ‘the immigration officer gave us both an orange. We were starving, having not eaten or even had a coffee break since morning – I never thought I’d get a gift from an immigration officer!’

Crossing into Ukraine also meant dealing with the endless bureaucracy that goes with arriving in a vehicle you’re going to leave behind. And the customs officer wanted to know what all the equipment in the back of the Freelanders was for, too. ‘That’s for stopping the blood flow when somebody has been shot or had a limb blown off’ is one of those things you kind of hope you’ll go through life without having to say.

By the time the two vehicles cleared customs, it was dark and they still had a three-hour drive ahead of them to Lviv. The weather wasn’t any better, either – but they made it. Late and, presumably, exhausted, but you can only imagine the satisfaction of knowing that Operation Freelander’s first two vehicles were at last in their new home and ready to be handed over the following day.

With these two down, however, that still leaves another ten to go. And though this first chapter in the story has been completed, there’s still so much to be done – which means Operation Freelander is still in desperate need of funds.

Which is where you come in, dear reader. There are various ways of helping this incredibly selfless mission – you may be able to help in person or, if you can spare a few quid, make a donation towards the cost of getting 12 Freelanders into the hands of people to whom they will make the difference between life and death. You can contact the organisation on operationfreelander@ gmail.com, or donate at www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/operationfreelander. It’s on both Facebook and YouTube, too.

‘When people ask what I’m doing driving all this way into a war zone,’ reflects Sue, ‘my answer is that I am saving lives for Christmas.’ War creates heroes – and as Operation Freelander shows, it’s not just on the front line.