Nelson woman Dianna Lacey is keen to put the record straight after a recently republished photo that affected her father's war history.
Dianna Lacey with a photo of her father, Flight Lieutenant Leonard Chambers. Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
Flight Lieutenant Leonard Chambers, of the small West Coast town of Karamea, together with the late Les Munro, were the only two New Zealanders to fly with the Royal Air Force 617 Squadron - known as "The Dambusters".
It was a single squadron formed during World War II to carry out the task of bombing German dams and thus drowning a fragment of the Nazi war machine.
Mr Chambers was a wireless operator with an expert knowledge of Morse code. He was turned down by the army when he tried to sign up in Westport because he was too young, so he went down the road and joined the air force, Mrs Lacey said.
On 16 May 1943, the squadron's 19 Lancaster bombers, each with seven-man crews, flew fantastically low over enemy territory and through mountainous terrain on a mission using experimental "bouncing" bombs. The dams of the Ruhr Valley were hit and the resulting flood swamped downstream factories and infrastructure.
A photo of Munro and Chambers taken just after the raid, both dressed in flying regalia, has cropped up again following the recent death of Gisborne-born Squadron Leader Les Munro.
Munro and Chambers never actually flew together - they just happened to be standing together when the photo was taken, Mrs Lacey said.
But the family was startled to note that instead of their father being named in the recently republished photo, it had been changed to Australian pilot Air Marshall Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan, known as Mickey Martin.
Mr Chambers, a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, was crewed up with "Mickey" when the pair were posted to "X Squadron" at Scampton in 1943.
Mrs Lacey is not sure when or how the mistake was made, but she wants to ensure it's not made again.
Too young for the army
Mr Chambers was a wireless operator with an expert knowledge of Morse code. He was turned down by the army when he tried to sign up in Westport because he was too young, so he went down the road and joined the air force, Mrs Lacey said.
While her father revealed little about his wartime experiences, an event that has stuck in her mind was the moment a police officer knocked on the door of their Karamea home and delivered a top secret letter in a wax-sealed envelope.
The first she knew he was even in the Dambuster squadron was around the time of the premiere of the 1955 movie Dambusters. Mr Munro had told a reporter at the premiere how the bouncing bombs worked, and had therefore accidentally broken the law as the "classified" information was published in all its glory.
"A secret letter arrived at our house, with a policeman and the postmaster. It was so exciting - I remember that more than anything Dad ever told me, but I don't remember his reaction when he opened the letter."
The letter Leonard Chambers received from the Director of Intelligence. Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
The letter, dated 3 October 1955, from the New Zealand Air Department's Director of Intelligence, Wing Commander RH Warcup, was a not-so-subtle warning that an article in The Evening Post "purported to give information supplied by Sqn. Ldr. Munro regarding special measures taken to drop bombs on the Moehne and Eder Dams."
The letter warned that the information was still classified, and disclosure was a breach of the Officials Secrets Act. It also acknowledged that while Mr Chambers had not given any information, his name had appeared in the article, and it was therefore prudent to remind him it was "forbidden for anyone having held a position under the Crown to disclose classified information".
Karamea won over Canada
Mrs Lacey was born in Canada but the family moved back to New Zealand in 1945, when she was a baby. Mr Chambers settled the family in Auckland and became a builder.
About four years later the boat fares were already booked back to Canada, where he had met his wife Lil while training as a wireless operator and air gunner. But then their lives took another turn.
"He went to Karamea to visit and say farewell - Canada had made a real impression on him, but when he got home among all his cousins it was, 'bye bye Canada'. We stayed and built another house."
Mr Chambers died in 1985, aged 65. Mrs Chambers died in April this year, aged 91, a day after walking half the Easter Mile in Karamea, and still missing Canada.
