Guest: Chris Newey Host: Dave Homewood Recorded: 28th of September 2026 Released: 1st of October 2026 Duration: 43 minutes Dave Homewood chats with Chris Newey about his latest book, Evader: On The Run In Wartime Europe – A Brief Account. The book focuses on the story of RNZAF pilot Ron Clark who was shot down in an Avro Lancaster bomber over occupied Europe. Landing by parachute on the Dutch-Belgian border, Ron was helped by locals and was put on the Belgian Lifeline, which was a network of brave people who assisted downed airman to get back to neutral and Allied territory. But unfortunately Ron was eventually betrayed to the Gestapo, and he ends up as a prisoner of war. Chris explained how this book came about: “In March 2020, NZ Bomber Command Association President Bruce Hebbard received an email from a Belgian woman, Evi Verhaert. The subject line read ‘How can I find relatives of a New Zealand aviator shot down in Belgium?’. Evi’s grandmother had guided a shot-down New Zealand pilot from one safe house to another in Antwerp in August 1944, when she was only 17 years old. Her father was a local organiser for ‘De Witte Brigade’, one of the Belgian underground organisations that helped run a sanctuary for evaders in thecellars of a bombed-out hospital. She delivered him safely to the care of the nuns who ran the hospital but never knew what happened to him after that. Over the years she had wondered, and had often told her children and grandchildren the story of “that New Zealand soldier”. Anna Julia “Julleke” Van Craen was by now 93 years old. With time on her hands during the COVID lockdown, Evi had offered to see if she could find him. A previously unseen document amongst her grandmother’s things named one of the hospital “refugees” as “Ronald Thomas Clark, Greystreet 27, Onehunga–Auckland”. She quickly found information online that appeared to confirm Clark had stayed at a hospital in Antwerp. Could we help find him or his family? Bruce passed the enquiry on to NZBCA Executive Officer (the late) Peter Wheeler who passed it on to me, as Ron Clark had served with 75 (NZ) Squadron, my specialist area. I knew a little bit about Ron’s story and had a connection; he was shot down on his very first “second dickey” op in Lancaster ND802 JN-D, the predecessor of my uncle’s Lancaster, HK601 JN-D. I was already in contact with the cousin of the pilot the night they were shot down. Sadly Frank Scott, from Christchurch, had been killed, along with Bomb Aimer Steve Cook from Invercargill, and Wireless Operator Ron Howson from Leicester. The other five survived. Author Max Lambert had written briefly about the incident in his book “Victory”, quoting from Ron Clark’s own account of that night. I emailed Max, who very kindly helped us obtain copies of Ron’s original POW Liberation and Escape & Evasion Reports. These provided further confirmation that Ron was in fact Julleke’s “soldier”. Sadly, we next found that Ron had died in October 2000, but through his funeral records were able to trace his family, in particular Christine, Ron’s oldest daughter and the family historian. Christine has carefully preserved all her father’s letters, photos and memorabilia and is very happy and proudto share them. She explained it was only in later years that Ron opened up about his dramatic wartime story, much to the family’s astonishment, and only then that he attempted to write it down. In 1991 he wrote his most detailed “brief account”, around which this book is based. It is an amazing story of evasion and survival, and one that has only become more fascinating as we have discovered more details through the many letters Ron received from his Belgian helpers after the war, throughdiaries and letters kept by his crewmates, through documents kept by Julleke and through our own research. Dutch aviation historian Henk Brul joined the team, helping us understand the crash and trace the surviving crew members’ evasion efforts. Then Evi made contact with a relative of one of the key DeWitte Brigade operatives who had written about the drama that was playing out behind the scenes as Ron Clark was passed along the compromised escape line. In 2025 I had the privilege of meeting Julleke, Evi and Henk, and of visiting the crash site and the graves of the three crewmates lost that night. Re-tracing Ron’s steps from Holland into Belgium, and eventually Antwerp, and talking with the Verhaert family helped me understand something of the nightmare it must have been living under occupation. It has been six years. As the story grew it became clear that it needs to be told. As a record of the bravery and resilience of “that New Zealand soldier” and his crewmates, and as a tribute to the selfless bravery of the many unsung civilian heroes of the war, good people like Julleke and her family. Ron’s admiration and gratitude could be passed on, in his own words. Finally, we are able to give Julleke the full story of what became of her New Zealand soldier.“ EVADER – ‘A Brief Account’, by Chris Newey, with Evi Verhaert & Henk Brul Publisher : Aviation Books Limited, UK (25 August 2026)Paperback: 148 pagesISBN-10 : 1915335884ISBN-13 : 978-1915335883Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 0.8 cm • The New Zealand Bomber Command Association • The New Zealand Bomber Command Association Facebook Page By The Book Here • Air Force Museum of New Zealand Shop • The Great British Book Shop • Amazon The front cover of Evader The back cover Ron Clark’s POW photo taken at Dulag Luft-ID on the 13th of September 1944 No longer wondering what happened to her ‘soldier’. Julleke with her book, photographed on the 7th of September 2026. The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.
