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Guest: Frederic ‘Ric’ Martini
Host: Dave Homewood
Recorded: 6th of March 2016
Released: 22nd of February 2017
Duration: 46 minutes 29 seconds
In this episode, which was recorded live during the March 2016 WONZ Forum Meet at the New Zealand Warbirds Association hangar at Ardmore, guest speaker Ric Martini tells the story of his father, Sgt Frederick C. Martini USAAF, and Squadron Leader Phil Lamason DFC*, mid(2), RNZAF who were among those that experienced perhaps the most terrifying captivity of any Prisoners of War, in the SS’s notorious Buchenwald death camp.
Ric discusses how both men ended up in the camp, what went on during their time there and the threat of death they were under, and also what happened to both men when they finally got out and into regular POW camps, and the forced marches they went on. He also discusses what happened to both men post-WWII and the lack of recognition, the cover up of information and the shameful neglect that particularly the US Government showed the veterans who had lived through the awful imprisonment at Buchenwald.
Above and below: Ric Martini during the WONZ Forum Meet presentation heard in this episode
Photos: Dave Homewood
Above: Ric’s father Sgt Frederic C. Martini, one of the Lost Airmen of Buchenwald (via Ric Martini)
Above: Squadron Leader Phil Lamason DFC*, mid(2), who led the airmen in the Buchenwald camp (via Ric Martini)
Quick Links:
• The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald Official Site
• The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald Facebook Page
• The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald Thread on the Wings Over New Zealand Forum
The music is a royalty and copyright free piece called ‘Touch’, via Youtube
Very interested to hear Ric Martini’s account and the connection he has to this intriguing Buchenwald war story and its sequel. The biography Phil Lamason, an important but unheralded New Zealand war hero is presently being written for the Phil Lamason Heritage Centre Trust, Dannevirke, by Hawkes Bay writer Hilary Pedersen. Publication will be in the latter part of 2017. Film maker Mike Dorsey has written the Foreword to this work.