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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1963-02-28, Page 9Nuclear Defence Nowt by Barry Wenger For the first time in more than 50 years there is a real issue at stake in a federal election,. Not since the vote of 1911, when the issue of free trade with the United States was before the electors, have Canadians had an opportunity to ex- press their opinions on a matter' ° of truly important dimensions. The issue of which 1 speak is that of whether or not nuclear warheads should be fitted to our defensive weapons, Mr, Diefenbaker has stated his opinion that the entire question be left in abeyance for a few months. He would like to re- view the matter after the NATO meeting in May, He has also expressed the opin- ion that our present weapons, the Bomarc B missile (for which we already have bases in Canada) and the CF101 "Voo- doo" interceptor aircraft are already ob- solete. He has also stated that defence against manned bombers is an outdated approach since intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are now the chief threat. Mr. Pearson has altered his stand in recent weeks. At one time he declared against nuclear arms for Canada, but now says we should accept the weapons and then talk the whole problem over with the Americans later on. Mr. Douglas, who leads the National Democratic Party, says he and his fol- lowers are flatly opposed to nuclear arms for Canada, regardfess of the consequen- ces. In other words he thinks we should step back into the role of neutrals. The Social Credit party offers no solu- tion at all since Mr. Thompson, the party leader, favors the possession of nuclear weapons and his deputy leader, Mr. Caouette, is absolutely opposed to this course. Net result of this divided thinking on the part of our national leaders is that Canadian voters don't know what is right or wrong. Realizing the vitally important nature of the decision which is facing the elec- tors a group of weekly newspaper pub- lishers, representing papers from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, organized a "trip last week to the headquarters of the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) at Colorado Springs, Colorado, to see first hand the extent of prepara- tions for defence of the North American continental area and to put questions to iur military leaders which might throw 'some light on the problem of whether or not nuclear arms are indeed necessary for the Canadian forces. We carne away with the answer. There is no doubt whatsoever about the drastic need for immediate action if we are to live with any reasonable degree of safety under the constant threat of attack from Soviet Russia. Sharp Questions Asked I should make it abundantly clear that the press party of which I was a member, was not asked to NORAD headquarters for propaganda purposes by the military. We sought permission to go and though we were addressed at length and in detail by various officers of the headquarters staff, each talk was interspersed and fol- lowed by questions from the newspaper publishers — and most of the questions were sharp and to the point. Honest an- swers were forthcoming on each occasion. Before going further into the subject I should point out that NORAD is composed of both Canadian and American Air Forces, American Army Air Force and American Navy Air Force. General John K. Gerhart of the U. S. Air Force is com- mander-in-chief of NORAD. His deputy commander and the only officer who has occupied the post since the command was organized over five years ago is Air Mar- shal C. Roy Slemon of the RCAF. Cana- dian officers are serving side-by-side with Americans throughout the entire struc- ture of NORAD. NORAD has no part in the formulation of plans for carrying warfare to a po- tential enemy. lts sole purpose is to de- fend the North American continent from any possible attack by air -borne craft or missiles. Billions upon billions of dollars have already been expended to provide the men and equipment for this formid- able task. Magnitude of the Task The,command centre of the entire de» fense structure is located at Colorado Springs, but the continent and adjoining ocean waters are covered by a vast net- work of radarscopes which keep 24 -hour - a -day watch over the airspace above North America and over the approaches by which attack might come. Stretching across the top of the con- tinent is a chain of powerful radar in- stallations which instantly detect flights of any kind either over North America or in the air above the Northern Soviet lands. Augmenting the coverage at either end of this Distant Early Warning line are picket ships in the Pacific sta- tioned all the way from the Aleutian Is- lands of Alaska right down to Midway Island in the south, and at the Eastern end of the installation are other radars at Thule in Greenland, in Iceland and in Scotland. Forming a second line far to the south is the Mid -Canada Line of radar posts which would track an enemy force if it had penetrated the DEW line. Still fur- ther south the Pine Tree Line radar sta- tions lie across the southern areas of Canada. Each of these stations is connected to the headquarters in Colorado and every reading of air -borne traffic is fed into giant electronic computers. One such computer which we saw at work cost in the neighborhood of $26 million, and there are hundreds of them at work all over the continent, constantly reading the flight patterns of all aircraft, regardless of nationality. Since some 300,000 flights originate or terminate in the U.S. every day, the computers filter the flight pictures and then report on those craft which are of particular interest to the defence system. A team of officers sits before a tremend- ous 3 -storey television screen on which are projected each of these flights. The screen depicted the map of North Am- erica, the Arctic Ocean, northern Russia and Siberia and the adjacent areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. While we watched last Thursday af- ternoon, a red signal appeared in the up- per left corner of the screen just at the coast of the Siberian peninsula which in- dicated an aircraft of unknown origin. A few moments later the line indicating its direction of flight lengthened out over the Bering Strait toward Alaska. Air Marshal Slemon picked up a telephone and instantly had the information that the signal indicated a Soviet bomber fly- ing at 32,000 feet. There was no cause for alarm because the track soon altered course and swung back toward the home base. At the same time a similar red signal appeared over the coast of Cuba and the report was on a Russian-made MIG fight- er swinging out toward Florida and then turning back to Cuba. I recount these details to impress upon you the care with which our de- fence is prepared and the utter deter- mination of the NORAD forces that there shall never again be a Pearl Harbour. If we are attacked we will defend ourselves. Weapons of Defence Should an attack in force develop NORAD is armed and ready to meet ap- proaching bombers, The placement of the three major lines of radar warning systems is designed to provide fullest pos- sible information about an attacking force as early as possible so the force could be intercepted and destroyed. The continent has been divided into several defence regions, and each region into sectors. From the sector command posts interceptor aircraft would be sent out to THE WINGHAM ADVANCE - TIMES Published at Wingh.am, Ontario, by Wenger Bros, Limited W. Barry Wenger, President - Robert O. Wenger, Secretary -Treasurer Member Audit Bureau of Circulation; Member Canadian Weekly Newspapers Associ- ation; Member Canadian ComrUnity Newspapers Represehtatives Authorized by the Post Office t epartrneht as Second Class Mail and for payment of postage in cash Subscription Rate: One Year, $4.00; Six Months, $2.25, in advance U,S.A.., $5.00 per year; Foreign rate, $5.00 per year Advertising Rates on application JAPAN am btancieffZiertu Wingharn, Ontario, Thursday, Feb. 28, 1963 USSR Moscow i i Fylingdoles Moor k (Under Const ) Atlantic Ocean „0119” OtiL Patrolled by MID -CANADA LINE Radar•Equipped Planes and Picket Ships Pacific Ocean stop approaching bombers. If the enemy got past the interceptors they would be fired upon by Bomarc missiles, which have a range of about 400 miles. If some got through the Bomarc barrage, they would come into the range of Nike mis- siles which arc emplaced around the major cities. At this point arises the question of whether or not these weapons of defence are obsolete. The Bomarc is considered the finest weapon of its kind in exist- ence. It can be guided from the ground or by a radar attachment within its own structure to seek out and destroy enemy aircraft. The CF10i aircraft is still in use in hundreds of defence stations in the U.S. and is also considered an excellent interceptor. it is true that there is no defence at present against ICBMs. But the intelli- gence section of NORAD provides the in» formation that it will be several years be- fore the Soviets will have enough of these giant missiles to pose a major threat. In the interval, lack of adequate defence against manned bombers would be an open invitation to attack by these much less costly and more practical carriers. Defence against ICBMs is now the No. 1 project in the U.S, and will be ready in time to meet the treat. Atomic Warheads Questions about the use of nuclear warheads for the Bomarc missiles and the CF101 interceptors revealed an area of information about which most Cana- dians have never been informed. NORAD officers are not asking for big atomic bombs with which to spread death and destruction all over the globe, NORAD would have no way of using such weapons. What they require and what the U.S. section of NORAD now carries are very small nuclear missiles which will effectively control the threat of bomber' attacks. These weapons are of such light "yield" that we were shown several pic- tures of these explosions in mid-air, with military personnel watching the effects immediately beneath. It was also explained that the atomic bombs which would be carried by man- ned aircraft would be fused to explode above ground level even though the car- rier aircraft were shot down by conven- CANADIAN RAILROAD BUILDER RECALLED The spectacular career of Sir Donald D. Mann, is recall- ed by the Encyclopedia Ameri- cana. Born in Action, Ontario, Mann began business life as a Winnipeg lumberman, in 1879, soon becoming manager of a contracting firm supplying ties to the C. P. R, By 1886, he tional weapons. On the other hand the heat radiated by a missile armed with a nuclear warhead would effectively "cook" the fusing system of one of the big bombs so it would all harmlessly to earth. - The Gap is Open NORAD is a defence mechanism of the highest calibre in which Canada shares on an equal basis with the U.S., even though our contribution in dollars has been only a tiny fraction of that provided by the American government. Canadians and Americans are working as a smoothly operating team, side by side, with one purpose in mind—the protection of the North American continent. The sole purpose of this force is not to carry war to the enemy, but to be- come so strong that no enemy would risk destruction by attacking our two coun- tries. NORAD exists only as a deterrent —a means of preventing war. One of its weaknesses at the present time is the position of Canada, where we have so far refused to accept the only kind of weapons the enemy fears. In the solid chain of well-planned defences which cover the continent, the only gaps are in the areas where Canadian aircraft are armed with outdated weapons and where Bomarc missiles wait — with no weapons at all. The Bomarcs were con- structed to carry only nuclear warheads, so their presence on Canadian soil is a farce unless they can be properly armed. The Americans are not demanding that we even spend our own money for these nuclear weapons. They will be pro- vided free of any charge. They simply ask that Canada take adult responsibility for those areas of defence which have been left to us. Given these facts the arguments against nuclear weapons on Canadian soil seem pretty ridiculous. If an attack came tomorrow we would be asking our airmen to meet the enemy with totally in- adequate weapons. It would be like us- ing English longbows against rapid-fire machine guns. No sensible ae-son wants to see the spread of nuclear capabilities. What Canada is being asked to do amounts purely to a guarantee, through adequate preparation, that nuclear warfare will not reach our land. launched himself as a railway builder in his own right, in the Prairie Provinces. Eventually, he developed the Canadian Northern Railway, in partner- ship with William Mackenzie. By 1912 it extended ftom Mont- real to Vancouver. In 1922 the Canadian Government took control of their line, mak- ing it part of the Canadian National Railroad. CAN SOIL FINGERS The skin of the pollack or coalfish is so strongly and duskily pigmented that, when a fisherman picks up his catch, the fish's pigment will soil the man's fingers. The flesh of this dark green fish of the cod family is highly esteemed by Canadians and Britons, but is unknown to most Americans, One Moment Please By W. J. Morrison Brussels, Ontario Have you ever thought of the importance of time, and its proper use? Perhaps the most striking advice which the Bible gives regarding time is Ephesians 5:16, "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Paul's conception of time is that it is a fragment of eternity, given by God to man as a solemn stewardship, and each of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that our Life here may be reviewed and judged as our opportunity for good or bad. If we are unbelievers, this verse aught to drive us to our knees, to repent of our sins, and to make our peace with God. If we are ministers of the gospel, it will cause us to examine the messages we preach, and ask ourselves if they are true to God's word. If we are Christians we must ask ourselves how we can live more to the glory of God than we do. Of course none of us really intends to avoid duties, or waste our time. But do we not often spend time on trivialities, while more important matters are neglected. Too often our conversation is about the wea- ther while spiritual things are never mentioned. It is a ques- tion of priorities. To redeem the time, we aught to give first consideration to such things as prayer, Bible -reading, wor- shipping and witnessing for Jesus Christ. We aught to re- member those words Jesus spoke, as a boy — " W ist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" This precept of Paul was written with the evil days of Nero in mind. But the precept is for all time. "Sufficientun- to the day is the evil thereof". If evil were sufficient in Paul's day, it is certainly sufficient in our day. If ever we needed to use our time for eternal good, it is now. Regular editorial page fea- tures will be found on page twelve.