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FOCUS PAGE AB â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1991 COSMETICS + CARDS â€" ALL OCCASIONS + GIFT WRAPPING* SOAPS + PERFUMES SHOPPERS DRUG MART Everything You Want In A Drug Store * VITAMINS + PAPER PRODUCTS â€" Chronicle Staff Former Canadian prisoner of war airman Ray Smith may not be following the dayâ€"toâ€"day events in the Gulf War, but he has a pretty good idea of what the seven captured airmen shot down in dnnkiecmlnqmgvingthrw&.d‘m A member of Waterloo‘s Royal ian Legion Branch 530, Smit.hlpentnlmoutwoyeaninucmm'gi-on«d'mmmp during the Second World War and knows that these airmen are going tofaconverydisciplimdlnqi‘mpk. Althoughl\e'un:;wdmhe its that Canada shouldn‘t be caught up in a Middle East war and he has strong views about the handling of the Gulf crisis, which includes having little faith in the Geneva Convention, sympathy with all Arab nations as well as contempt for the selective thinking of the United Nations. However, even though he was the president of the National Prisoner of War Association for four years, Smith finds it difficult to become too emotional over this war filled with propaganda. "There‘s just so much propaganda that you don‘t get the truth," Smith said. "A couple of years ago the States was supplying Iraq with arms and ammunition. Now they‘re fighting them and probably some of their own ammunition is coming back at them. Life is too short to Views of a Second World War POW 884â€"1500 | 886â€"3530 | 886â€"6130 OPEN SUN. 11â€"5 ”‘MW FREE oeuvery on mevications ron senions & sHutâ€"s WATERLOO TOWN WATERLOO LOCATIONS: worry Igzsot_xt these things. But looking at this, you realize how cheap life is. “MysympathiesgotoalltheArabs.Bu:kinlmwhmEgnt nndlnulwmatwu,thmwuamufin.'l‘helgm stopped fighting and this is when the Israelis took the West (known as the Sixâ€"Day War). "I don‘t think the United Nations is worth a damn because they should have toldthehneliatopullbnckto'hu‘flnymltthe ceasefire. But they didn‘t." 4 Reports out of the Middle East state that the captured airmen in Iraq were put on public mlay, possibly tortured, forced to read statements on television and could even be used as human shields at possible target areas. According to Smith, little has changed since he was taken prisoner. * f "They talk about the violation of the Geneva Convention, that‘s always been violated." Smith‘s nightmare began on October 18, 1943 â€" returning from a night bombing run over Hanover, Germany, his flllne. a Lancaster bomber, was shot down by a German fighter. All seven crew members managed to escape the burning craft and were eventually captured by the Germans and taken prisoners of war. BEECHWOOD (Continued on page A9)