FOR close to 100 years, Barnsley-born former RAF war veteran Harry Leslie Smith has witnessed humanity at its best and worst and right now he believes mankind is in one of its most difficult stages with the global refugee crisis.

That’s why the 94-year-old launched a major fund raising campaign so he can travel to refugee hot spots around the world and complete what he calls the ‘last great challenge of his existence’.

Harry hopes to visit countries in Europe and America to document his observations at different refugee camps and use this research to form the basis of a new book.

“My life is at eventide because I will be 95 in February 2018,” he said. “I am one of the last few remaining voices left from a generation of men and women who built a better society for our children and grandchildren out of the horrors of the Second World War as well as the hunger of the Great Depression.

“Sadly, that world my generation helped build on a foundation of decency and fair play is being swept away by neo-liberalism and the greed of the one per cent which has brought discord around the globe.

“Today the western world stands at its most dangerous juncture since the 1930s.

“So before my time dwindles down to a few precious moments, I want to travel to as many refugee hot spots as possible in Europe, North America and possibly Australia to document this preventable tragedy that may lead us to another war as gruesome as the one I helped fight against Hitler over 70 years ago.”

Harry, who was born into an impoverished miner’s family in Barnsley, wants to turn his research and observations into a book that he hopes will ‘shake people from their complacency’.

Harry, who is in Canada with family for the festive holidays, was recovering from a bout of pneumonia when he spoke to the Chronicle but was in good spirits and said he is determined to start his refugee tour early next year, having already raised just short of £50,000 for the trip through public donations.

He said: “We have to get to know these people and understand them and know what their desires are and we’re going to find they are no different to our own.

“I know all about 1945 refugee people fleeing because at that time I was moving north up in to Holland and was going by hundreds of thousands who were streaming past our tanks going south looking for a place of refuge.

“They were men, women and children, all refugees from Hitler’s factory workers all dressed in rags and it was frightening and I certainly wouldn’t want that to happen again.

“Our politicians and we ordinary people have a moral and human responsibility to be our brother’s keepers and at the end of the day the only thing that separates us from refugees is luck.

“The suffering of refugees is something I will never forget.

“One thing I will say about Britain at that time is there was a great deal more humanity in Britain’s make-up because then refugees streaming in to Britain were met with love and care.

“Can you imagine that happening today?”

While researching for his new book on the global crisis, he also wants to do podcasts from the field, writing and tweeting from what he calls ‘camps of despair’.

He said: “I know that my advanced age, activism over the last decade and use of social media can make this tour and this book an important rallying cry to help end the refugee crisis or at least start a sincere dialogue to mitigate the suffering of vulnerable people everywhere.”

Harry believes the project will take close to 18 months to complete.

“I’ll probably start early in February.

“It’s going to be an exciting time and I’m looking forward to it with great expectations. It will be filmed as well for a documentary with something in each place I wind up.

“I will make sure that this last great task of my life will be a fitting testament to my generation’s commitment to leaving the world a better place.”