N-protester ‘saw ruins’

Press, 4 August 1987, Page 1

N-protester ‘saw ruins’

By

HUGH BARLOW

PA Wellington A New Zealand airman, Ron Smith, never saw enemy soil during night flights in World War 11. It was only after the Nazi surrender in 1945 that he navigated a Mosquito fighterbomber low over the Ruhr Valley and saw for the first time the destruction wrought by the Allies.

"I had never seen Germany by daylight and after V.E. (Victory in Europe) Day we said, what about a ’navigational exercise’ over the Ruhr? We made a low level flight up the Ruhr; the whole place was bomb-cratered, every city was flattened. Cologne was just a sea of

ruins,” Mr Smith said. Soon after news came through from Japan of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "I remember coming to the realisation that this was a whole new power in the world. What I saw in the Ruhr was done with ordinary bombs and nuclear weapons were thousands of times more powerfuL” When he returned to New Zealand after two years service with 159 Squadron Mr Smith became an active member of the anti-nuclear movement That commitment saw him in Wellington** Michael Fowler Centre at the week-end when the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, gave his first election rally in the capital.

His attempt to question Mr Bolger on the National Party’s defence policy ended with punches being thrown and Mr Smith being ejected from the meeting.

"The critical question of. this election is whether New Zealand continues to give the World a lead in nuclear policies. Mr Bolger is trying to humbug the public by putting forward a policy he says is anti-nuclear but which will result in nuclear ships returning to New Zealand ports.

"When I got up to raise this issue I was assaulted. Someone put me in a headlock with one hand and punched me in the side of the head with the other,” Mr Smith, aged M, said.

"Someone from behind hit me in the face and I was also hit In the face with a woman’s handbag.” When he left the meeting he felt there was little point taking the matter to the police as he would hot be able to identify his assailants. But after seeing television footage of the incident and discussing the matter with peace movement friends, he laid a complaint of assault A sore cheekbone and a few bruises would not stop him campaigning to keep New Zealand nuclear-free, Mr Smith said.

"New Zealand has given an inspiration to the world and we are determined to keep New Zealand’s good name up,” he said.