Phil Lamason
Encyclopedia
Phillip John Lamason DFC
& Bar
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. Born and 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 double crossed by a traitor
within the Resistance and handed over to 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 regular speaker at KLB Club
and POW reunions.
, a city in New Zealand's North Island
, on 15 September 1918. Prior to the war, he worked for the Department of Agriculture at New Plymouth
as a stock inspector. He was described as a tall, good-looking man with blue eyes.
Lamason joined the RNZAF in September 1940. By April 1942, he had been posted to the European theatre of operations
as a pilot officer
in No. 218 Squadron RAF
. During a bombing raid on Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, he was in command of an aircraft that was attacked by an enemy fighter and badly damaged, but managed to return to base. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
(DFC) on 15 May 1942. The citation read:
Returning to operations, Lamason was twice Mentioned in Despatches, first on 2 June 1943 and again, having received promotion to acting squadron leader
, on 14 January 1944. 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.
commander in a Lancaster
of No. 15 Squadron RAF, on his 45th operation, when he was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris
. Lamason recalled:
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, 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 traitor
Jacques Desoubrie
. After interrogation
at the Gestapo headquarters in Paris, they were taken to Fresnes Prison
. Many fliers were classified as "Terrorflieger" (terror flier) by the Germans, and were not given a trial. The most common act for allied airmen to be classified a terror flier was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags. The German Foreign Office decided that these captured enemy airmen should not be given the legal status of prisoner of war
(POWs) but should instead be treated as criminals and spies. Consequently, Lamason was amongst 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 a SS guard
. Lamason fell to the ground and captured pilot Roy Allen
watched as a SS Major
pulled a Luger from his holster and thought Lamason would be shot on the spot. 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 prisoner
s from Germany
, France
, Poland
, and Czechoslovakia
. It was known for its brutality and barbaric medical experiments
. Upon arrival, Lamason, as ranking officer, demanded an interview with the camp commandant
, Hermann Pister
, which he was granted. He insisted that the airmen be treated as POWs under the Geneva Conventions
and be sent to a POW camp
. The commandant agreed that their arrival at Buchenwald was a "mistake" but they remained there anyway. The airmen were given the same poor treatment and beatings as the other inmates. For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the prisoners were totally shaved, denied shoes and forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of Buchenwald's sub-camps, known as 'Little Camp'. 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 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. 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. Lamason did not do this just to improve their morale
but because he also saw it as his responsibility to carry on his war duties despite the adverse circumstances. Captured US pilot Joe Moser believed that Lamason also did this because if the right opportunity presented itself, the group would be able to operate much more effectively if military discipline
and operations were applied. 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 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.
Within days of their arrival, Lamason met Edward Yeo-Thomas, a British spy
being held at Buchenwald under the alias
Kenneth Dodkin. Lamason, who knew the real Dodkin quite well, immediately became suspicious and later confided in Christopher Burney
, who assured Lamason the cover was legitimate. Through Yeo-Thomas and Burney, Lamason was introduced to two Russian colonels, senior members of the International Camp Committee
, an illegal underground
resistance group of prisoners in the main camp. As senior officer, Lamason had access to the main camp and quickly built a rapport with the group. As a result, he was able to secure extra blankets, clothes, clogs
and food for the airmen. Lamason also built a rapport with two other prisoners; French
Scientist
Alfred Balachowsky
and Dutch Olympian trainer
Jan Robert. Both men had developed trustworthy contacts within the camp administrative area and were able to provide Lamason with reliable intelligence
that assisted in the survival of the airmen.
For the next six weeks, Lamason negotiated with Pister and the German camp authorities, but his requests to have the airmen transferred to proper POW camps were denied. One captured British airman, Pilot Officer
S.A. Spierenburg, was a Dutchman
flying for the Royal Air Force
. Spierenburg, who spoke fluent German
, regularly acted as an interpretor
for Lamason when he negotiated with the camp authorities. Because Buchenwald was a forced labor camp
, the German authorities had intended to put the 168 airmen to work as slave-labor
in the nearby armament factories
. Consequently, Lamason was ordered by a 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" (Darf in kein anderes Lager), or "not to be transferred to another camp". At great risk, Lamason and Burney secretly got word out through a trusted Russian prisoner, who worked at the nearby Nohra
airfield, to the German Luftwaffe
of their captivity at the 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. 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 also knew that the Luftwaffe had the political connections to get the airmen transferred to a POW camp.
Eventually, Lamason's persistence paid off. Under the pretence of inspecting aerial bomb damage
near the camp, two Luftwaffe officers made contact with the airmen and also spoke to Lamason. Convinced the airmen were not spies, but bona-fide airmen, the officers reported their findings to command
. After reading the report, an outraged Hermann Goering demanded 'at the highest level' the transfer of the airmen to Luftwaffe control. Unknown to all airmen except Lamason, their execution
had been scheduled for 26 October, if they remained at Buchenwald. News of the airmen's scheduled execution had been conveyed to Lamason by a German Communist
prisoner, Eugen Kogon
, who had a reliable contact within the camp administrative area. 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. Lamason decided not to inform the airmen, but to keep this information to himself to avoid panic and in the slight hope the Luftwaffe would intervene in time. Then, on the night of 19 October, seven days before their scheduled execution, 156 of the 168 airmen, including Lamason, were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III
by the Luftwaffe.
Two airmen died at Buchenwald. The other ten, who were to ill to be moved with the main group, were transported to Stalag Luft III in small groups over a period of several weeks. In the two months at Buchenwald, Lamason had lost 19 kilograms (42 lbs
) and had contracted diphtheria
. At Stalag Luft III, he spent a month in the infirmary recovering. In late January 1945, all Stalag Luft III POWs were force-marched
to other POW camps further inside Germany. Lamason and Chapman were marched to Stalag III-A
outside Luckenwalde
, where they remained until liberated by the Russian
army at the end of the war in Europe
. Lamason and Chapman were taken to Hildesheim
airfield and flown to Brussels
and then onto England.
Many airmen credit their survival at Buchenwald to the leadership and determination of Lamason. Captured pilot, Stratton Appleman, stated that "they were very fortunate to have Lamason as their leader". Another airman, Joe Moser, stated that Lamason was a great leader whom he would have been glad to follow anywhere he asked. 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 very real threat to him of execution by the camp authorities because he was their leader, who quickly established himself as a legendary figure in the airmen's eyes. In the National Film Board of Canada
1994 documentary, The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald, captured pilot Tom Blackham stated that Lamason was not only the senior officer, but also their natural leader. Lamason emerged from Buchenwald with a giant reputation. In the book, Destination Buchenwald, Lamason stated that he felt deeply honoured to have been the senior officer during the Buchenwald period.
. However, the RNZAF refused and Lamason returned to New Zealand, arriving there the day after the atomic bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima
. After the war, Lamason was discharged
from the air force on 16 December 1945. He moved to Dannevirke
, a small rural community north east of Palmerston North
and became a farmer
until his retirement.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Lamason was a regular speaker at KLB (initials for Konzentrations lager Buchenwald) Club
reunions, a club formed by the allied airmen while detained in Buchenwald. Lamason is 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. In May 1987, the New Zealand government in Wellington
approved a fund to compensate servicemen held in German concentration camps and Lamason was awarded $13,000. However, Lamason has never been honoured by his homeland for his leading role in saving the lives of the allied airmen at Buchenwald.
In 1994, the National Film Board of Canada
released a documentary movie titled, “The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald”, in which former Allied airmen recount their personal and collective stories of life before, during and after Buchenwald. Lamason was interviewed and mentioned throughout the documentary. Lamason was also 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. This and other interviews with Lamason are featured in Dorsey's 2011 documentary film titled, Lost Airmen of Buchenwald, which tells the complete story of the 168 Allied airmen who were sent to Buchenwald, including Lamason.
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
& Bar
Medal bar
A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...
was a pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
in the Royal New Zealand Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
(RNZAF) during the Second World War, who rose to prominence as the senior officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
in charge of 168 Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
airmen taken to Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
, Germany, in August 1944. Born and raised in Napier
Napier, New Zealand
Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighboring cities are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...
, he joined the RNZAF in September 1940, and by April 1942 was a pilot officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
serving with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
in Europe
European Theatre of World War II
The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...
.
On 8 June 1944, Lamason was in command of a Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
heavy bomber that was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Bailing out
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
, he was picked up by members of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. While attempting to reach Spain along the Comet line
Comet line
The Comet line was a World War II resistance group in Belgium/France which helped Allied soldiers and airmen return to Britain. The line started in Brussels, where the men were fed, clothed and given false identity papers before being hidden in attics and cellars of houses...
, Lamason was double crossed by a traitor
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
within the Resistance and handed over to the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. After interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
, he was taken to Fresnes prison
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
. 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
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
, 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
Military courtesy
Military courtesy is one of the defining features of a professional military force. These courtesies form a strict and sometimes elaborate code of conduct....
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
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
of the Allied airmen's captivity and, seven days before their scheduled execution
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, 156 of the 168 prisoners were transferred to Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
. Most of the airmen credit their survival at Buchenwald to the leadership and determination of Lamason. After the war, he moved to Dannevirke
Dannevirke
Dannevirke , is a rural service town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the major town of the administrative Tararua District, the easternmost of the districts in which the Regional Council has responsibilities...
and became a farmer until his retirement. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was regular speaker at KLB Club
KLB Club
The KLB Club was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944...
and POW reunions.
Early career
Lamason was born and raised in NapierNapier, New Zealand
Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighboring cities are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...
, a city in New Zealand's North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
, on 15 September 1918. Prior to the war, he worked for the Department of Agriculture at New Plymouth
New Plymouth
New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England, from where the first English settlers migrated....
as a stock inspector. He was described as a tall, good-looking man with blue eyes.
Lamason joined the RNZAF in September 1940. By April 1942, he had been posted to the European theatre of operations
European Theatre of World War II
The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...
as a pilot officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
in No. 218 Squadron RAF
No. 218 Squadron RAF
No. 218 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was also known as No 218 Squadron after the Governor of the Gold Coast and people of the Gold Coast officially adopted the squadron.-World War I:...
. During a bombing raid on Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, he was in command of an aircraft that was attacked by an enemy fighter and badly damaged, but managed to return to base. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
(DFC) on 15 May 1942. The citation read:
Returning to operations, Lamason was twice Mentioned in Despatches, first on 2 June 1943 and again, having received promotion to acting squadron leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
, on 14 January 1944. He was awarded a Bar
Medal bar
A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...
to his DFC on 27 June 1944, for "courage and devotion to duty of a high order" and "vigorous determination" in attacks on Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and other heavily-defended targets.
Buchenwald
On 8 June 1944, Lamason was serving as a flightFlight (military unit)
A flight is a military unit in an air force, naval air service, or army air corps. It usually comprises three to six aircraft, with their aircrews and ground staff; or, in the case of a non-flying ground flight, no aircraft and a roughly equivalent number of support personnel. In most usages,...
commander in a Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
of No. 15 Squadron RAF, on his 45th operation, when he was shot down during a raid on railway marshalling yards near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Lamason recalled:
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
, Flying Officer
Flying Officer
Flying officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence...
Ken Chapman, Lamason was picked up by members of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and hidden at various locations for seven weeks. In August, while attempting to reach Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
along the Comet line
Comet line
The Comet line was a World War II resistance group in Belgium/France which helped Allied soldiers and airmen return to Britain. The line started in Brussels, where the men were fed, clothed and given false identity papers before being hidden in attics and cellars of houses...
, Lamason and Chapman were captured by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
in Paris after they were betrayed
Betrayal
Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations...
by the French traitor
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
Jacques Desoubrie
Jacques Desoubrie
Jacques Desoubrie was a French traitor and double agent who worked for the Gestapo during the German occupation of France during World War II.-Early life:...
. After interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
at the Gestapo headquarters in Paris, they were taken to Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
. Many fliers were classified as "Terrorflieger" (terror flier) by the Germans, and were not given a trial. The most common act for allied airmen to be classified a terror flier was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags. The German Foreign Office decided that these captured enemy airmen should not be given the legal status of prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
(POWs) but should instead be treated as criminals and spies. Consequently, Lamason was amongst a group of 168 allied airmen from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, New Zealand and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
who, along with over 2,500 French prisoners, were taken by train—in overcrowded cattle boxcars
Boxcar
A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
—from Fresnes Prison outside Paris, to Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
. 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 a SS guard
SS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....
. Lamason fell to the ground and captured pilot Roy Allen
Roy Allen
Roy Allen was an American, born in the north Philadelphia neighborhood of Olney. He was a bomber pilot during World War II shot down over France and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.-France and captivity:...
watched as a SS Major
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
pulled a Luger from his holster and thought Lamason would be shot on the spot. 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
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
of about 60,000 inmates of mainly Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
POWs, but also common criminals, religious prisoners (including Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
), and various political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. It was known for its brutality and barbaric medical experiments
Nazi human experimentation
Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the Nazi German regime in its concentration camps mainly in the early 1940s, during World War II and the Holocaust. Prisoners were coerced into participating: they did not willingly volunteer and there...
. Upon arrival, Lamason, as ranking officer, demanded an interview with the camp commandant
Commandant
Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...
, Hermann Pister
Hermann Pister
Hermann Pister was an SS Oberführer and commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp from 21 January 1942 until April 1945....
, which he was granted. He insisted that the airmen be treated as POWs under the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
and be sent to a POW camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
. The commandant agreed that their arrival at Buchenwald was a "mistake" but they remained there anyway. The airmen were given the same poor treatment and beatings as the other inmates. For the first three weeks at Buchenwald, the prisoners were totally shaved, denied shoes and forced to sleep outside without shelter in one of Buchenwald's sub-camps, known as 'Little Camp'. Little Camp was a quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
section of Buchenwald where the prisoners received the least food and harshest treatment.
After their first meal, Lamason stepped forward and said:
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. 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
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
within each group. Lamason did not do this just to improve their morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
but because he also saw it as his responsibility to carry on his war duties despite the adverse circumstances. Captured US pilot Joe Moser believed that Lamason also did this because if the right opportunity presented itself, the group would be able to operate much more effectively if military discipline
Military courtesy
Military courtesy is one of the defining features of a professional military force. These courtesies form a strict and sometimes elaborate code of conduct....
and operations were applied. 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 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.
Within days of their arrival, Lamason met Edward Yeo-Thomas, a British spy
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
being held at Buchenwald under the alias
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Kenneth Dodkin. Lamason, who knew the real Dodkin quite well, immediately became suspicious and later confided in Christopher Burney
Christopher Burney
Christopher Arthur Geoffrey Burney MBE was an upper-class Englishman who served in the Special Operations Executive during World War II.-Biography:...
, who assured Lamason the cover was legitimate. Through Yeo-Thomas and Burney, Lamason was introduced to two Russian colonels, senior members of the International Camp Committee
Buchenwald Resistance
The Buchenwald Resistance was a resistance group of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. It involved Communists, Social Democrats, and people affiliated with other political parties, unaffiliated people, and Christians. Because Buchenwald prisoners came from a number of countries, the...
, an illegal underground
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...
resistance group of prisoners in the main camp. As senior officer, Lamason had access to the main camp and quickly built a rapport with the group. As a result, he was able to secure extra blankets, clothes, clogs
Clog (shoe)
A clog is a type of footwear made in part or completely from wood.The Oxford English Dictionary defines a clog as a "thick piece of wood", and later as a "wooden soled overshoe" and a "shoe with a thick wooden sole"....
and food for the airmen. Lamason also built a rapport with two other prisoners; French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
Scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
Alfred Balachowsky
Alfred Balachowsky
Alfred Serge Balachowsky was a French entomologist born in Russia. He specialised in Homoptera : Coccoidea but also worked on Coleoptera. Balachowsky worked at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle...
and Dutch Olympian trainer
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
Jan Robert. Both men had developed trustworthy contacts within the camp administrative area and were able to provide Lamason with reliable intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
that assisted in the survival of the airmen.
For the next six weeks, Lamason negotiated with Pister and the German camp authorities, but his requests to have the airmen transferred to proper POW camps were denied. One captured British airman, Pilot Officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
S.A. Spierenburg, was a Dutchman
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
flying for the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Spierenburg, who spoke fluent German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, regularly acted as an interpretor
Interpreting
Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
for Lamason when he negotiated with the camp authorities. Because Buchenwald was a forced labor camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
, the German authorities had intended to put the 168 airmen to work as slave-labor
Forced labor in Germany during World War II
The use of forced labour in Nazi Germany and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in German-occupied...
in the nearby armament factories
Otto Eberhardt Patronenfabrik
Otto Eberhardt Patronenfabrik was a Nazi Germany munitions company. The company's Hirtenberger Patronen Zündhutchen und Metallwarenfabrik near Wiener Neustadt used forced labor from a sub-camp of the World War II Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and produced...
. Consequently, Lamason was ordered by a SS officer to instruct the airmen to work, or he would be immediately executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
. 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" (Darf in kein anderes Lager), or "not to be transferred to another camp". At great risk, Lamason and Burney secretly got word out through a trusted Russian prisoner, who worked at the nearby Nohra
Nohra
Nohra is a municipality in the Weimarer Land district of Thuringia, Germany. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Utzberg was incorporated by Nohra....
airfield, to the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
of their captivity at the camp. The message requested in part, that an officer pass the information to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and for the Luftwaffe to intercede on behalf of the airmen. 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 also knew that the Luftwaffe had the political connections to get the airmen transferred to a POW camp.
Eventually, Lamason's persistence paid off. Under the pretence of inspecting aerial bomb damage
Bomb damage assessment
Bomb, or battle damage assessment, often referred to as BDA, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target by an air campaign. It is part of the larger discipline of combat assessment...
near the camp, two Luftwaffe officers made contact with the airmen and also spoke to Lamason. Convinced the airmen were not spies, but bona-fide airmen, the officers reported their findings to command
Command (military formation)
A command in military terminology is an organisational unit that the individual in Military command has responsibility for. A Commander will normally be specifically appointed into the role in order to provide a legal framework for the authority bestowed...
. After reading the report, an outraged Hermann Goering demanded 'at the highest level' the transfer of the airmen to Luftwaffe control. Unknown to all airmen except Lamason, their execution
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
had been scheduled for 26 October, if they remained at Buchenwald. News of the airmen's scheduled execution had been conveyed to Lamason by a German Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
prisoner, Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon was a historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, he was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration camp. Kogon was known in Germany as a journalist, sociologist, political scientist, author and politician...
, who had a reliable contact within the camp administrative area. 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. Lamason decided not to inform the airmen, but to keep this information to himself to avoid panic and in the slight hope the Luftwaffe would intervene in time. Then, on the night of 19 October, seven days before their scheduled execution, 156 of the 168 airmen, including Lamason, were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
by the Luftwaffe.
| Nationalities of the 168 airmen |
 United States 82 American |
| 48 British |
 Canada 26 Canadian |
 9 Australian |
 2 New Zealander |
 1 Jamaican |
Two airmen died at Buchenwald. The other ten, who were to ill to be moved with the main group, were transported to Stalag Luft III in small groups over a period of several weeks. In the two months at Buchenwald, Lamason had lost 19 kilograms (42 lbs
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
) and had contracted diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
. At Stalag Luft III, he spent a month in the infirmary recovering. In late January 1945, all Stalag Luft III POWs were force-marched
The March (1945)
"The March" refers to a series of death marches during the final stages of the Second World War in Europe. From a total of 257,000 western Allied prisoners of war held in German military prison camps, over 80,000 POWs were forced to march westward across Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Germany in...
to other POW camps further inside Germany. Lamason and Chapman were marched to Stalag III-A
Stalag III-A
Stalag III-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp at Luckenwalde, Brandenburg, south of Berlin.-Camp history:Planning for the camp commenced before the invasion of Poland...
outside Luckenwalde
Luckenwalde
Luckenwalde is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the German state of Brandenburg. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, about south of Berlin...
, where they remained until liberated by the Russian
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
army at the end of the war in Europe
End of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...
. Lamason and Chapman were taken to Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...
airfield and flown to Brussels
City of Brussels
The City of Brussels is the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region, and the official capital of Belgium by law....
and then onto England.
Many airmen credit their survival at Buchenwald to the leadership and determination of Lamason. Captured pilot, Stratton Appleman, stated that "they were very fortunate to have Lamason as their leader". Another airman, Joe Moser, stated that Lamason was a great leader whom he would have been glad to follow anywhere he asked. 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 very real threat to him of execution by the camp authorities because he was their leader, who quickly established himself as a legendary figure in the airmen's eyes. In the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
1994 documentary, The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald, captured pilot Tom Blackham stated that Lamason was not only the senior officer, but also their natural leader. Lamason emerged from Buchenwald with a giant reputation. In the book, Destination Buchenwald, Lamason stated that he felt deeply honoured to have been the senior officer during the Buchenwald period.
Aftermath and later life
Following their liberation and return to England, Lamason was asked to consider commanding one of the Okinawa squadrons for the final attack on JapanOperation Downfall
Operation Downfall was the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The operation was cancelled when Japan surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan. The operation had two parts: Operation...
. However, the RNZAF refused and Lamason returned to New Zealand, arriving there the day after the atomic bomb
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
was dropped on Hiroshima
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. After the war, Lamason was discharged
Military discharge
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve.-United States:Discharge or separation should not be confused with retirement; career U.S...
from the air force on 16 December 1945. He moved to Dannevirke
Dannevirke
Dannevirke , is a rural service town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the major town of the administrative Tararua District, the easternmost of the districts in which the Regional Council has responsibilities...
, a small rural community north east of Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...
and became a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
until his retirement.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Lamason was a regular speaker at KLB (initials for Konzentrations lager Buchenwald) Club
KLB Club
The KLB Club was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944...
reunions, a club formed by the allied airmen while detained in Buchenwald. Lamason is also a member of the Caterpillar Club
Caterpillar Club
The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel pin...
, an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
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
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
in 1983. In May 1987, the New Zealand government in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
approved a fund to compensate servicemen held in German concentration camps and Lamason was awarded $13,000. However, Lamason has never been honoured by his homeland for his leading role in saving the lives of the allied airmen at Buchenwald.
In 1994, the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
released a documentary movie titled, “The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald”, in which former Allied airmen recount their personal and collective stories of life before, during and after Buchenwald. Lamason was interviewed and mentioned throughout the documentary. Lamason was also portrayed in the History Channel’s 2004 documentary "Shot from the Sky", about the real life saga of B-17 pilot Roy Allen
Roy Allen
Roy Allen was an American, born in the north Philadelphia neighborhood of Olney. He was a bomber pilot during World War II shot down over France and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp.-France and captivity:...
, one of the captured airmen taken to Buchenwald. In April 2005, Lamason, then 86, recollected the events of Buchenwald on TV New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
. In June 2010, Lamason, then 91, was interviewed again about his experience at Buchenwald by Mike Dorsey. This and other interviews with Lamason are featured in Dorsey's 2011 documentary film titled, Lost Airmen of Buchenwald, which tells the complete story of the 168 Allied airmen who were sent to Buchenwald, including Lamason.
See also
- KarlKarl Otto KochKarl-Otto Koch , a Standartenführer in the German Schutzstaffel , was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, and later also served as a commander at the Majdanek concentration camp.-Early life:Koch was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse on...
and Ilse KochIlse KochIlse Koch, née Köhler , was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, commandant of the Nazi concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941, and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943...
; The first CommandantCommandantCommandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...
of Buchenwald and his wife, also known as the Bitch of Buchenwald. - The Boys of BuchenwaldThe Boys of BuchenwaldThe Boys of Buchenwald is a 2002 documentary film that examines how the child survivors of the Buchenwald concentration camp had to assimilate themselves back into normal society after having experienced the brutality of the Holocaust...
; A documentary film about the child survivors of Buchenwald concentration camp. - Number of deaths in BuchenwaldNumber of deaths in BuchenwaldThe Buchenwald concentration camp was established in 1937, 10 kilometers from Weimar. The prisoners of the camp were Jews, political prisoners, religious prisoners and prisoners of war. They came from Russia, Poland, France, Germany, Austria and other countries....
.
Further reading
- Gilbert, Adrian (2006), POW: Allied prisoners in Europe, 1939-1945. Published John Murray, London. . ISBN 0719561280.
- Clutton-Brock, Oliver (2003). Footprints on the sands of time: RAF Bomber Command prisoners-of-war 1939-1945. Published by Grub Street, London. ISBN 1904010350.
- Bard, Michael Geoffery (1996). Forgotten Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps. Published by Westview Press, Washington. ISBN 0813330645.
- Burney, Christopher (1946). The dungeon democracy. Published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York.
External Links
- Lost Airmen of Buchenwald A documentary film featuring Phil Lamason