36 Facts About Phil Lamason

On 8 June 1944, Lamason was in command of a Lancaster heavy bomber that was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris.

For several weeks Phil Lamason negotiated with the camp authorities to have the airmen transferred to a POW camp, but his requests were denied.

At great risk, Phil Lamason secretly got word to the Luftwaffe of the Allied airmen's captivity and, seven days before their scheduled execution, 156 of the 168 prisoners were transferred to Stalag Luft III.

Phil Lamason was born and raised in Napier, a city in New Zealand's North Island, on 15 September 1918.

Phil Lamason was educated at Napier Boys' High School and Massey University where he was awarded a Diploma in Sheep farming.

Phil Lamason was described as a tall, good-looking man with blue eyes and a broken nose.

Phil Lamason was awarded a Bar to his DFC on 27 June 1944, for "courage and devotion to duty of a high order" and "vigorous determination" in attacks on Berlin and other heavily defended targets.

Phil Lamason was presented his award after the war by King George VI at Buckingham Palace, where he met and befriended a young Princess Elizabeth.

On 8 June 1944, Phil Lamason was serving as a flight commander in a Lancaster LM575 LS-H of No 15 Squadron RAF, on his 45th operation, when he was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards at Massy-Palaiseau near Paris.

Phil Lamason fell to the ground and captured pilot Roy Allen watched as an SS Major pulled a Luger from his holster and thought Phil Lamason would be shot on the spot.

Phil Lamason insisted that the airmen be treated as POWs under the Geneva Conventions and be sent to a POW camp.

Phil Lamason then instructed the group not to trust the SS, or provoke them in any way because as they had experienced on the train, the guards were unpredictable and trigger-happy.

Phil Lamason further stated that acting on the group's behalf, he would make further contact with the camp authorities for recognition of their rights.

Phil Lamason then proceeded to organise the airmen into groups by nationality and appointed a Commanding officer within each group.

Phil Lamason did not do this just to improve their morale but because he saw it as his responsibility to carry on his war duties despite the adverse circumstances.

Phil Lamason's leadership boosted the airmen's spirits and gave them hope while instilling a level of discipline and bearing.

One of the first assignments Phil Lamason gave was to mount a guard detail, both day and night, to prevent pilfering by other inmates, which had begun during their first night at camp.

Phil Lamason, who knew the real Dodkin quite well, immediately became suspicious and later confided in Christopher Burney, who assured Phil Lamason the cover was legitimate.

Consequently, Phil Lamason was ordered by an SS officer to instruct the airmen to work, or he would be immediately executed by firing squad.

Phil Lamason refused to give the order and informed the officer that they were soldiers and could not and would not participate in war production.

Phil Lamason understood that the Luftwaffe would be sympathetic to their predicament, as they would not want their captured men treated in the same way; he knew that the Luftwaffe had the political connections to get the airmen transferred to a POW camp.

Phil Lamason discussed the information at length with Yeo-Thomas, Burney and Robert and they concluded there was little that could be done to avert the mass execution.

Phil Lamason decided not to inform the airmen, but to keep this information to himself to keep morale high and in the slight hope the Luftwaffe would intervene in time.

However, the RNZAF refused and Phil Lamason returned to New Zealand, arriving there the day after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Phil Lamason was discharged from the air force on 16 December 1945.

In 1946, Phil Lamason was asked to be the lead pilot to test the flight paths for a new British airport.

In 1948, Phil Lamason moved to Dannevirke, a small rural community north east of Palmerston North where he acquired 406 acres and became a farmer until his retirement.

Phil Lamason was a member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft.

Phil Lamason hid the fact for 39 years that the order for the airmen's execution was given and scheduled for 26 October 1944, first mentioning it at a Canadian POW convention in Hamilton in 1983.

In May 1987, the New Zealand Government in Wellington approved a fund to compensate servicemen held in German concentration camps and Phil Lamason was awarded $13,000.

However, Phil Lamason was never formally honoured by his homeland for his leading role in saving the lives of the Allied airmen at Buchenwald.

Phil Lamason was portrayed in the History Channel's 2004 documentary "Shot from the Sky", about the real life saga of B-17 pilot Roy Allen, one of the captured airmen taken to Buchenwald.

Phil Lamason died at his home on 19 May 2012, on the farm outside Dannevirke where he had lived for over 60 years.

Phil Lamason was 93 and at the time of his death, survived by two sons and two daughters.

Phil Lamason was predeceased by his wife, Joan, who died in 2007, and was buried with her at Mangatera Cemetery.

The Phil Lamason Story was launched at Dannevirke in February 2018.