Goosens served as an officer in the Belgian Army and was a military advisor to the Congolese government during the Congo Crisis.
[1] During the civil war in Yemen, he and other Congo veterans trained royalist rebels.
[3] During the unsuccessful attempt led by Welsh mercenary Taffy Williams to retake Onitsha from Nigerian forces, Goosens died after being shot in the liver.
[4] Under the title Biafra: Final Mission, Paris Match, a dramatic photo series published by Gilles Caron on November 30, 1968 showed Biafran soldiers carrying the body of Goosens.
[5] Goosens is one of the five fallen mercenaries to whom Frederick Forsyth dedicates his novel The Dogs of War.