Hilary Pedersen

I Would Not Step Back... Hilary Pedersen

168 Condemned Allied Airmen... A Nazi firing squad... Three days to execution... The two men lock eyes...and in the mind-numbing battle of wills that follows, a 20-man firing squad stands ready to shoot...an RNZAF Squadron Leader stares down a Nazi officer who is about to decide his fate. Finally the command comes..."Ground arms!"Standing tall, the natural-born leader has again confronted the brutal SS and merciless Gestapo...and again secured the survival of 168 Allied airmen incarcerated in Buchenwald death camp in Germany, 1944. Meet Phil Lamason, the 'broken-nosed Kiwi', a New Zealander who took responsibility for those around him, the 'lost airmen' from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and the USA. Phil knew loyalty and betrayal. He experienced the stench of death and the injustice of war yet cherished the pride of land ownership and the joys of parenthood. He was the steely-eyed man who stood up to his German captors but was a 'pushover' for his own children. This is a story of leadership, resilience and courage; a young man serving in RAF Bomber Command, thrown into the cauldron of battle and who was ultimately tested to the limit of human endurance, and the cast of characters who found their way into his family history and personal life. Phil Lamason: a man who knew both triumph and tragedy and who, when the time came, stood up to be counted.