Whilst this has been written by an American and refers to the US Troops it could apply to any of our Armed Forces personnel where ever they maybe.

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A Soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.

"it's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

that separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like ny fathers before me.

My Gramps died at "Pearl on a day in December,"

Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas "Gram" always remembers."

My Dad stood his watch in the jungles of "Nam",

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

but my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

the red, white, and blue ... An American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home. 

I  can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,

to ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

  "But isn't there somethoing I can do, at the least,

"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?'

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

for being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

to stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

to know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

At Christmas time and ANZAC Day some credit is due to our Service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

Our previous item regarding a lost opportunity to have the Mururoa Veterans health status made public sure set off the RIMPAC Chairman. He claims that "privacy" prevented them from giving Mururoa veterans medical information to the NZ Herald.

The NZ Herald reporter was not looking to publish the identity of affected veterans. The Herald were looking for some form of Mururoa vets statistics, the number and types of cancers, Cause of death, average age of death, illness other than cancer, and any genetic effects on the veterans' offspring. For whatever reason, he assumed that RIMPAC had this information, but he could not make sense of the material that they gave him. Hence his inquiry to NZNTVA.

The reporter would have liked, but it was not necessary, to interview and photograph a Mururoa veteran who was suffering health damage through his service at Mururoa. The RIMPAC Chairman keeps saying that "NZNTVA is trying to climb onboard." Onboard what???. Certainly we do not wish to be associated with RIMPAC. Nor do we wish to be dictating the Mururoa Vets affairs. In particular we can only repeat, that if any group or individual holds sufficient data that indicates that the Mururoa vets have been affected by their nuclear service, then it should be made public and put to good use.

NZNTVA is perfectly comfortable with its Mururoa related activities. We know what we have accomplished and its relevance to the Mururoa Vets. More to the point, it is essential that the research into the Grapple veterans is fairly considered by Government. It's really very simple. Obviously if the Grapple research, health data, and other information held by NZNTVA, and forwarded to Government and VANZ, is related to the Mururoa Veterans health problems. It is then that a much more positive case for war disability, and surviving spouses pensions, and other assistance can be made for the Mururoa Group. It is not important whether NZNTVA or any other organization or individual is making the case, just the fact that the information is being used,.

In a recent conversation with Gerry Wright, he may well do a book on the Mururoa experience, when he has completed his book on Operation Grapple. That may assist in bringing a sharper focus on the Mururoa Veterans affairs.

(Just a note here ...... I would have been keen to be inviewed by the NZ Herald Reporter, but it appears that others like to speak negatively on our behalf. I am sure that Dodger Long would also have like to be interviewed. The same goes for the widow of Terry Lines.) - Ed

  (Another note... Both Stretch Kennedy and I have a data base of the illnesses affecting some of the crew members of both Otago and Canterbury, and their offspring.) - Ed

New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association (NZNTVA) does not have a large veterans member base of the HMNZS Otago and Canterbury tours of Mururoa. Obviously establishing the health status of the Mururoa veterans is difficult. NZNTVA does however consider that the Mururoa test site would have the same basic dangers attached to it as every other nuclear test site internationally. As such over the years in dealing with the Grapple issues, NZNTVA has also acted in the interests of the Mururoa veterans also.

The NZNTVA research project is a good example. The Government grant and the further $78,000 NZNTVA raised through donations for the Clinical Assessment Programme at Massey University was only enough to do reserch on an absolute minimum of 50 veterans from one theatre. The obvious choice, due to age, amount of exposure, data held, contact addresses etc, were the Grapple veterans. Additionally it would not be scientifically possible, to have involved any Mururoa veterans, and have got a scientifically sound result. However, it must be obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense, that the results from the Grapple veterans study, would have considerable relevance to the Mururoa veterans also, and other nuclear test veterans internationally. The recently released CAP "Psychological Impact Study" is an excellent example of that.

NZNTVA is aware that claims have been made of unnatural and substantial numbers of deaths and cancers and other illnesses amongst the Mururoa Veterans. The NZNTVA Chairman received a phone call from a NZ Herald reporter asking if we could substantiate the Mururoa Veterans Health problems. The reporter advised that he had contacted RIMPAC earlier and asked the same question to which he received a large multi page unintelligible response. We of course, could not assist him either.

At conference, and after the plaque dedication, we made an effort to establish from the Mururoa veterans if they were aware of any source that has reliable and documented data on the Mururoa veteran's health problems. No one did. Going from this response, and certainly RIMPAC's (The Chairman, Tony Cox is a Mururoa veteran) response to the NZ Hearld reporter, then there is no tangible recorded data that can be measured against the general population, or against the Mururoa cohort overall. Certainly without such information it is virtually impossible for any individual or group, to make a fully informed argument to Government or it's agencies.

If there is evidence of ill health amongst the Mururoa veterans out there, then those who are aware of it, should be documenting it and presenting it to Government and it's agencies, to ensure that the Mururoa veterans, and their families, are receiving the attention that they should.

NZNTVA is committed to looking after, as best it can, and within its means, nuclear test veterans and their families, irrespective of the veterans threatre of service. As previously stated, the majority of the projects and work that we are involved in, is also done with the Mururoa veterans in mind, and the flow on effect to the Mururoa Veterans' has, and is happening. They also benefit from our work.