Bosnia veteran tracks down the ‘little girl’ that he met on war-torn streets
AN Army veteran who befriended a little girl on the war-torn streets of Bosnia has managed to get back in touch with her 25 years later.
Pete Millns, 48, from Stockport met Duldina Kutovic during the Bosnian War while he was serving with the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment in 1993, when she was around seven or eight years old.
He said: “We were based in Kladenj in central Bosnia. We used to meet up with the convoys before they went into Sarajevo and we made friends with this little girl and her family who lived there.
“Part of the culture and the religion there was for people to offer strangers coffee and invite them into their homes, so that was how we got to know them.
“I was the driver so I had to wait outside to keep an eye on the vehicle, so I was always outside with all the kids. They were always very interested in us and we built up some friendships.”
Pete and his fellow soldiers clubbed together to buy things for the children, such as sweets, chocolate, teddy bears and paper – and Duldina still has the things they gave her.
The pair lost contact when Pete’s tour ended and he subsequently left the Army in 1999 after 12 years’ service.
But what Pete, who runs the Stockport Armed Forces and Veteran’s Breakfast Club at the Salisbury Club in Brinnington, hadn’t realised was that some of the Irish soldiers whose battalion had served alongside them had managed to keep in touch.
He said: “One of the Irish lads was chatting to a friend of mine from the Army on Facebook and he mentioned that they were still in touch with some of the families we’d met back then – we had no idea.”
Pete’s contact details were passed on to Duldina, who is now in her 30s, a teacher and still lives in Kladenj, and since then the pair have spoken on the phone and via Skype.
“It had been 25 years since we last saw each other,” he said. “Getting back in touch was brilliant, I had a total mix of emotions.
“Knowing that she was alive and well was amazing – I saw so much death and destruction there and so many of the people killed were kids.
“She has a daughter herself now and she is doing really well. She still has many of the things we gave her and she talked about the difference we made to their lives.”