Phil Lamason

Phillip John Lamason, (15 September 191819 May 2012) was a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the Second World War, who rose to prominence as the senior officer in charge of 168 Allied airmen taken to Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany, in August 1944. Raised in Napier, he joined the RNZAF in September 1940, and by April 1942 was a pilot officer serving with the Royal Air Force in Europe. 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. Bailing out, he was picked up by members of the French Resistance and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. While attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line, Lamason was betrayed by a double agent within the Resistance and seized by the Gestapo.

After interrogation, he was taken to Fresnes prison. Classified as a "Terrorflieger" (terror flier), he was not accorded prisoner-of-war (POW) status, but instead treated as a criminal and spy. By 15 August 1944, Lamason was senior officer of a group of 168 captured Allied airmen who were taken by train to Buchenwald concentration camp, arriving there five days later.

At Buchenwald, the airmen were fully shaved, starved, denied shoes, and for three weeks forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of the sub-camps known as "Little Camp". As senior officer, Lamason took control and instilled a level of military discipline and bearing.

For several weeks Lamason negotiated with the camp authorities to have the airmen transferred to a POW camp, but his requests were denied. At great risk, 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. Most of the airmen credit their survival at Buchenwald to the leadership and determination of Lamason. After the war, he moved to Dannevirke and became a farmer until his retirement. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a regular speaker at KLB Club and POW reunions.

Early career Lamason was born and raised in Napier, a city in New Zealand's North Island, on 15 September 1918. He was educated at Napier Boys' High School and Massey University (Palmerston North campus) where he was awarded a Diploma in Sheep farming.

During this period, Lamason described himself as "a bit of a ratbag". Prior to the war, he worked for the Department of Agriculture at New Plymouth as a stock inspector. It was there Lamason took the opportunity of free flying lessons, clocking up 100 hours. The citation read: Lamason (third from right) and his crew standing in front of their Lancaster heavy bomber; early 1944.

After his first tour ended flying Stirlings with 218 Squadron, Lamason then instructed other pilots at 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit. He 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. 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 the moonlit night, 95 bombers were lost, its heaviest losses of the entire war during a single raid.

Buchenwald On 8 June 1944, 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.

Along with his English navigator, Flying Officer Ken Chapman, Lamason was picked up by members of the French Resistance and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. In August 1944, while attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line, Lamason and Chapman were captured by the Gestapo in Paris after they were betrayed by the French double agent Jacques Desoubrie for 10,000 francs each. After interrogation at the Gestapo headquarters in Paris, they were taken to Fresnes Prison.

Consequently, Lamason was among a group of 168 Allied airmen from Great Britain, United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica who—along with over 2,500 French prisoners—were taken by train in overcrowded cattle boxcars from Fresnes Prison outside Paris to Buchenwald concentration camp. As the airmen were herded into the boxcars, Lamason protested about the poor treatment of the airmen, only to be struck in the face by an SS guard. After five days travel, during which the airmen received very little food or water, they arrived at Buchenwald on 20 August 1944.

Buchenwald was a labour camp of about 60,000 inmates of mainly Russian POWs, but also common criminals, religious prisoners (including Jews), and various political prisoners from Germany, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. It was known for its brutality and barbaric medical experiments. Little Camp was a quarantine section of Buchenwald where the prisoners received the least food and harshest treatment.

After their first meal, Lamason stepped forward and said: Lamason (centre) and another airman (Ken Chapman) playing chess in Chevreuse with a Frenchwoman whose family hid them for two weeks. 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. Also, they were not to explore the camp because of the chance of breaking unknown rules, but to stay together and keep as far away from the guards as possible. He further stated that acting on the group's behalf, he would make further contact with the camp authorities for recognition of their rights.

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

Within days of their arrival, Lamason met Edward Yeo-Thomas, a British spy being held at Buchenwald under the alias Kenneth Dodkin. Spierenburg, who spoke fluent German, Consequently, Lamason was ordered by an SS officer to instruct the airmen to work, or he would be immediately executed by firing squad. Lamason refused to give the order and informed the officer that they were soldiers and could not and would not participate in war production. After a tense stand-off, during which time Lamason thought he would be shot, the SS officer eventually backed down.

Most airmen doubted they would ever get out of Buchenwald because their documents were stamped with the acronym "DIKAL" , or "not to be transferred to another camp". The message requested in part, that an officer pass the information to Berlin, and for the Luftwaffe to intercede on behalf of the airmen.

Eventually, Lamason's persistence paid off. Under the pretence of inspecting aerial bomb damage near the camp, two Luftwaffe officers (including Hannes Trautloft) made contact with the airmen and also spoke to Lamason. Convinced the airmen were not spies, but bona-fide airmen, Trautloft reported his findings to command. 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. 82 American 48 British 26 Canadian 9 Australian 2 New Zealander 1 Jamaican

Two airmen died at Buchenwald. The other ten, who were too ill to be moved with the main group, were transported to Stalag Luft III in small groups over a period of several weeks. Lamason and Chapman were taken to Hildesheim airfield and flown to Brussels and then on to England.

Many airmen credit their survival at Buchenwald to the leadership and determination of Lamason. In the book 168 Jump into Hell, Lamason was described as having single-minded determination, selflessness, cold courage and forcefulness in the face of the threat of execution by the camp authorities because he was their leader and said that Lamason quickly established himself as a legendary figure in the airmen's eyes.

In 1946, Lamason was asked to be the lead pilot to test the flight paths for a new British airport. As part of the agreement, he was offered a farm in Berkshire. However, family said he needed to be home instead and Heathrow Airport went ahead without him. Lamason was also a member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft.

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. Lamason was interviewed and mentioned throughout the documentary.

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.

In April 2005, Lamason, then 86, recollected the events of Buchenwald on TV New Zealand. In June 2010, Lamason, then 91, was interviewed again about his experience at Buchenwald by Mike Dorsey. Mike Dorsey said Lamason remained scarred by his experiences to the extent that Dorsey said “I have a feeling that Lamason, to put it in a word, has no time for the Germans.”

Lamason died at his home on 19 May 2012, on the farm outside Dannevirke where he had lived for over 60 years. He was 93 and at the time of his death, survived by two sons and two daughters. He was predeceased by his wife, Joan (née Hopkins), who died in 2007, and was buried with her at Mangatera Cemetery.

In November 2015, it was announced that a book recounting and honouring Lamason's life would be written by Waipukurau author Hilary Pedersen by September 2018 (what would have been Lamason's 100th birthday). The book titled, I Would Not Step Back ... The Phil Lamason Story was launched at Dannevirke in February 2018.