War hero attention to detail impressive

Squadron leader (retired) John 'Les' Munro, left, the last surviving pilot involved in the Dambusters mission, pictured with John Bunny (middle) and David Iwrin.

IT IS deeply humbling to meet a veteran of World War II. If nothing else, there's not a lot of them left.

It is also humbling that squadron leader Les Munro, the last surviving pilot of the 1943 Dambusters raid, decided Masterton would be his last public speaking engagement - at least that's his intention. Checking through my files, Mr Munro has been generous with his time in New Zealand and overseas.

People are fascinated with what they would perceive as a genuine war hero, especially with Dambusters now being part of popular WWII culture.

On Wednesday night, he lent his credibility to the Wings over Wairarapa 2015 launch.

As the press waited at a distance for a moment with Mr Munro, his partner, Christine Ross, approached us with a request for photos.

This was to be his last speaking engagement, she said, and they would love some photographs to remember the night.

Mr Munro is perhaps typical of veterans of that era, with a marked capacity for understatement.

His squadron bombed the battleship Tirpitz; his only remark to that was "we achieved the objective".

What struck me about Mr Munro is that he clearly appreciated the technicalities of flying, the precision of it.

He liked the figures, the mathematics. It appeals to me too. I remember reading a story about sorting out British aircrew into what roles they were naturally disposed to.

The story went that if you could understand the principles of the International Date Line, you became a navigator.

Mr Munro was a pilot, but his description that evening of 617 squadron's most important mission, in his opinion - precision flying in the decoy operations the night before D-Day - and his diagrams - brought home to me his pride in doing a job very, very well, even if it is not blazing guns and glory.

Dambusters, he said, might have "captured the imaginations" in popular culture. Sir Peter Jackson is, after all, due to remake the movie. But Mr Munro's 56 other missions remind us professionals and experts who steadily achieve their objectives and pay attention to what they do, often without glory, carry the tide of war.