 After a tense stand-off, during which time Lamason thought he would be shot, the SS officer eventually backed down.Most airmen doubted they would ever get out of Buchenwald because their documents were stamped with the acronym "DIKAL" (), or "not to be transferred to another camp".At great risk, Lamason and Burney secretly smuggled a note through a trusted Russian prisoner, who worked at the nearby Nohra airfield, to the German Luftwaffe of their captivity at the camp.