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GREENSBORO — In the distance, they could see the military trucks, soldiers with guns drawn.
Dressed in white contamination-like suits with “citizen weapons inspectors” written on the back, the Catholic nuns were seated atop the 110-ton concrete nuclear warhead on a Colorado Air Force base. They prayed and sang, “O God, teach us how to be peacemakers in a hostile world.”

Earlier, the women had cut through the perimeter fence of a nuclear missile silo to protest the disregard they say the federal government holds for treaties signed against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. They painted crucifixes using their blood.

“I could hear them say, 'They’re singing Christian songs,’” Sister Carol Gilbert, 60, recalled of the day in 2002 when she and two other nuns with the faith-based Jonah House ministry faced M-16s with grenade launchers.

Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte spoke to N.C. A&T political science and criminal justice students Tuesday night because they are traveling the country with the documentary “Conviction,” which tells the story of how they and others challenged the Bush administration.

The anti-war activists had hoped their actions would land them in court before a jury with an arsenal of international experts, so they could prove their civil disobedience was warranted.

“We’re saying to ourselves, we must stop this crime from happening,” said Platte, 72, of her motivation to climb atop the missile that day.

Their protest got international news coverage, but the women also became the first in Colorado to be prosecuted for sabotage to the government under the Patriot Act.

The Air Force base commanders testified that the nuns did nothing that would have damaged the missiles, but Platte and Gilbert were sentenced to prison terms of 41 and 33 months, respectively.

They were released in 2005.

The third nun, Jackie Hudson, also served prison time. She also continues her anti-war protests with the Jonah House.

“We never use the word successful. We talk about being faithful,” Gilbert said, when asked whether their actions were in vain.

“There were ripple effects that came from our action,” Gilbert said, mentioning the thousands of letters they got in jail, some of which came from overseas. “They said: 'You give us hope. We didn’t know that all Americans didn’t want to kill us.’”

Platte speaks of the bombing and the long-term health effects in the Middle East that most Americans know little about.

“Our peacemakers bring back pictures of babies in the hospitals in Iraq ... with mutations that are indescribable,” Platte said. “If you see the pictures, you will weep. My faith calls me to do this.”

The women also had been on the national watch list for terrorists. They didn’t know that until this past October.

“In an era of change, these elderly and brave women of conscience want to inspire others, especially young people, to get involved in global political struggles and create a more peaceful world,” said John Calvin Jones, an A&T assistant professor of criminal justice who invited them to campus.

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com