Canadian volunteer Dave Hughes, Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment, assigned as a grenadier prior to Op Miracle 1979. He is one of the few men in the Western World to have ever operated out of the T-55. Rhodesia had received a few, that had been confiscated by the South Africans which were distributed to the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment.

Dave was a cop in Canada who volunteered for service in the Rhodesian Army after meeting a colleague who had served with the BSAP. Dave was a top athlete and relatively experienced law enforcement officer, but nothing could have prepared him for the rigours of the Rhodesian Army. He initially trained as a Rhodesian SAS trooper, but the fierce African heat quickly invalidated him. He remustered to the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment, and would operate several vehicles, most notably the captured T-55 tanks.

Dave would see active service during the tense Internal Elections period, and the dramatic cross border raid into Mozambique during Operation Miracle. This last big op was chaotic, and despite achieving a 20:1 kill ratio, did not accomplish the strategic goal of the joint Zimbabwe-Rhodesian/South African forces that day.