Summary From Pilsen to Buchenwald - Phil Lamason RNZAF Part of New Zealand at War Week on WW2TV Our guest today is Mike Harold, Chairman of the Phil Lamason Heritage Centre Trust At the outbreak of World War II Phil Lamason volunteered for service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF. During his training he was identified as 'having leadership potential,' which saw him directed into the RAF Bomber Command on his arrival in England, in July, 1941. Over the next three years Phil became a skilled pilot of heavy bomber aircraft, completing 44 successful operations over enemy held territory. During that time he was awarded the DFC and Bar for his leadership, bravery and courage under fire, and he also served for over a year as an RAF bomber crew instructor. Military life for Phil changed dramatically on June 8, 1944, when his Lancaster bomber was shot down by a German night-fighter while bombing a target near Paris, France. Surviving the crash Phil successfully evaded capture by the Nazis with help from members of the French Resistance organisation. Regrettably Phil and others were betrayed by an infiltrator into the hands of the Gestapo, and after a time in Fresnes Prison, Paris, he was transported to the infamous Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany. There, aged just 25 years and as a Squadron Leader and senior officer responsible for 168 Allied Airmen in the Camp, Phil displayed "very strong traits of single-minded determination, selflessness, cold courage and forcefulness in the face of the very real threat to him of execution by the camp authorities."

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