John Pattison ( RNZAF officer ) Squadron Leader John Gordon Pattison , DSO , DFC , Légion d ' honneur ( 27 January 1917 – 11 September 2009 ) was a New Zealand fighter pilot and squadron commander of the Second World War . At the time of his death he was one of the few surviving New Zealand veterans of the Battle of Britain . John Gordon Pattison was born 27 January 1917 in Waipawa and educated at Wanganui Collegiate School working on his father ' s farm . He joined the Civil Reserve of Pilots , and learned to fly at Hawke ' s Bay and East Coast Aero Club . With just 20 hours of flying time when the Second World War began , he volunteered for service with the RAF the day war was declared . He completed his training and sailed for the UK . Pattison arrived in Britain in late July 1940 , attended 7 OTU and then joined No 266 Squadron based at Debden on 26 August 1940 , flying Spitfires . On his first operation intercepting a force of enemy bombers he became separated from the squadron , ran out of fuel and made a wheels - up landing in a field . On 14 September he was posted to No 92 Squadron , based at Biggin Hill . On 23 September Pattison was attacked by a Bf 109 over Gravesend and received serious thigh wounds from a cannon shell , crash - landing at West Malling airfield . He spent eight months in hospital , but recovered and rejoined the squadron in June 1941 before becoming an instructor at 61 OTU a month later . In June 1941 Pattison contravened standing orders regarding low flying and flew under the Severn railway bridge and he lost three months seniority as a penalty . In April 1942 he returned to operations with No 485 ( NZ ) Squadron , based at Kenley . On 26 April his Squadron was attacked by Focke - Wulf 190s , with four aircraft hit , two pilots were lost . The engine of Pattison ' s Spitfire was damaged , bailing out off the Sussex coast and rescued by an air - sea rescue launch . Over the next year he flew onnumerous operations and was rested in June 1943 . In July 1943 he was awarded a DFC for his " determination , zeal and courage " . After a tour as chief flying instructor at 56 OTU , Pattison returned to operations in March 1944 with No 66 Squadron . He was involved in the Invasion of Normandy . On 6 July 6 , 1944 he attacked a Messerschmitt Bf 109 near Chartres forcing the German pilot to bail out . A month later he shot down a Focke - Wulf 190 near Montrichard . Pattison was appointed to return to and command No 485 ( NZ ) in September and he led in support of the advancing armies through France , Belgium and Holland , claiming many enemy ground vehicles destroyed . When No 485 was withdrawn from the front line in February 1945 Pattison was posted to the staff at HQ , 84 Group . On 20 March he was awarded the DSO , the citation concluding that " he has set the highest standard of skill and courage and shown the finest qualities of leadership both in the air and on the ground " . By the end of the war , in at least 259 operational sorties , he had been credited with two enemy aircraft destroyed along with an unspecified number of ground vehicles . He was shot down twice during the war . Discharged from the RAF in January 1946 , Pattison returned to New Zealand to farm at Waipawa before retiring to Havelock North . Honours and awards . Pattison was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1943 , and made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1945 . He was awarded the Légion d ' Honneur at the time of sixtieth anniversary commemorations of the Normandy landings in 2004 . The award was personally bestowed by the nation ' s then - president Jacques Chirac .