# Ronald Hubbard Tells of His Trip to Orient and Many Experiences

The following newspaper article is something of a curiosity. It has been distributed by the Church of Scientology and is claimed to be "from a Helena, Montana newspaper circa 1929". However, it does not exist in Helena's newspaper archives and the typeface matches that of no contemporary Helena newspaper. Doubts have been expressed about whether the typeface concerned had even been devised in 1929. There is therefore a fair possibility that it is a forgery. However, it raises four interesting claims:

1. "Ronald is a pupil at Helena high school, having returned from Guam the first of September to stay with his grandparents"
   - this is correct, but the CoS has claimed that his return was forced by the death of his grandfather (which did not occur until two years later).

2. "While in China he witnessed an execution"
   - Ron kept a very detailed journal of his trip to Guam but did not mention an execution.

3. "Our ship was met [in Japan] by a submarine chaser, torpedo boats and airplanes, which was none too pleasant for those on board"
   - again, this does not appear in his journal.

4. "Ronald Hubbard has the distinction of being the only boy in the country to secure an eagle scout badge at the age of 12 years"
   - patently false, as the Boy Scouts Association has stated that it kept no record at this time of the age of Eagle Scout recipients.

Image of the clipping (33Kb)

Last updated 7 Dec 1996