Originally Posted by
davejb
I retired without making good my fondest wish - to earn a DFM the hard way, beating out a cabin fire 'cos the extinguishers had run dry (over Berlin, in the searchlights etc etc) ......with the 2nd Nav....
Very close to the incident that got my old boss, AVM Sir Phillip Lagesen, his DFC.
Phillip Lagesen won his DFC in a blazing Liberator bomber high above northern Italy in the closing stages of the Second World War. Aged 21, he was co-pilot of the South African Air Force (SAAF) aircraft when it was hit by a German fighter and caught fire. Although one of the two air gunners bailed out, the other was badly burnt.
Clambering back from his seat at the controls, Lagesen, who had trained as a gunner before getting his wings, seized one of the abandoned cannon and shot down the enemy attacker as it swooped in to deliver the coup de grace. Despite being burnt himself he managed to put out the flames rising around him before administering first aid to his stricken comrade – who ever afterwards credited Lagesen with having saved his life.