Sqd.Ldr Pieter Robert Marie van der Heijden . Royal Air Force 541 Squadron from Holland My Uncle, Squadron Leader Pieter Robert Marie van der Heijden was stationed at RAF Benson with the 541 Sqadron from 28/7/1940 until he was killed on a photo rec mission off the coast of Holland, year unknown. I would very much like to hear from anyone who knew my Uncle Pieter and any details of his fateful mission. I understand he had the reputation of being somewhat of a "maverick" amongst his conteporaires and was shot down whilst flying a mosquito on recon, as a result of low flying over his homeland. Also anyone who may have known his younger brother, Johanus or "Johnnie" who was killed after the war, when his plane blew up during radar testing in July 1945
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P. van Der Watt . from New Zealand
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J. Van Dijke . Royal air Force 320 Squadron (Netherlands) from Holland On 25th October 1943 a plane, a Mitchell FR166 of 320 squadron was hit by flak nr. Brest. It was ditched at sea at 14:47 hrs (GMT) at 49'40 N - 04'30 W.
Crew members were:
- J. Van Dijke - Captured by the Germans and became a POW
- H.A. Kaufman - Captured by the Germans and became a POW
- C. Schot - Captured by the Germans and became a POW
- C.J. Bank - Missing in Action.
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Sgt Carolus Ludovicus "Charles" van Heugten . Royal Air Force 320 Sqd. from Netherlands (d.22nd Nov 1942) Carlus Ludovicus van Heugten was my wife's uncle. He was from a family of military pilots. His brother Fons was a military pilot in The Netherlands before the war and emigrated to Australia afterwards. His brother Willem, my father in law, got his training in the Netherlands in 1923 at 17 year of age from the first military instructor here, Versteegh. He later on moved to former East Indies (now Indonesia) to serve with the N.I. Navy Airforce. At the Japanese attack he moved to Australia via Broome and from there to the USA to join as flight instructor the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School in Jackson, Mississippi. He ended his carreer as airline pilot with KLM.
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Sgt. Carolus Ludovicus Gerardus Van Heugten . Royal Air Force 320 Squadron (Netherlands) from Holland (d.21st Nov 1942) On 21st November 1942 the Hudson EW903 of 320 Squadron was lost off the Dutch Coast.
The crew members were:
- Sgt. Carolus Ludovicus Gerardus Van Heugten - Missing in Action
- Sgt. Laurens Abraham Hoogteiling - Missing in Action
- Lac Jacob De Ligt - Missing in Action
- Lac Jan Adrianus Den Ouden - Missing in Action
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Pilot Officer Johannes Henricus Josephus Van Loon . Royal Air Force 320 Squadron (Netherlands) from Holland (d.9th Nov 1942) On 9th November 1942 a Hudson EW912 of 320 squadron failed to return from anti-shipping-patrol and was lost at sea.
The crew members were:
- P/O J.H.J. Van Loon - Missing in Action
- P/O Richard De Boer - Missing in Action
- Lac Hindrik Jongman BEM - Missing in Action
- Lac Johan Frederik Mijsberg - Missing in Action
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Johannes Antonius "Joop" van Lunenburg . Dutch Army (d.24th Jan 1944) Around 1999 I learned from an aunt that I was named after my uncle Joop, Johannes Antonius van Lunenburg
as I have same initials. Until then uncle Joop has never been mentioned by neither his four brothers nor his
two sisters. Before my mother died at the age of 92 she gave me a picture and an "in memoriam" of Uncle Joop.
but no further story and from my side I asked no further questions. Surfing around the internet for my last name I
came at the Institute of Genealogie in Holland and to my surprise I found a death certificate of my uncle made
in Chech and German language more or less confirming what was on the "in memoriam" and the cause of death,
blood poissoned because of etc. It also states that he was a Dutch soldier and in a firm handwriting there
is STALAG XIA. In my opinion Stalag means POW camp but how does a dutch soldier get there and why
has nobody ever talked about him. I have my thoughts but is it possible to get a story straight?
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Leroy "Bud" Van Natta . US Army 634th AAA AW Battalion 106th Inf Division My father, Leroy (Bud) Van Natta was captured during the battle of the bulge and sent to Stalag 4B, where he spent the remainder of the war. He was in the 634th AAA AW Battalion attached to the 106TH. He mentioned that they used to smuggle in cirgarettes into the camp in the sleeves of there coats. Once he mentioned that an SS Officers' son approached the fence and asked a prisoner for some gum and when the prisoner did not have any the Kid told the guards to shoot the prisoner which they did. If anyone remembers my Dad please let me know.
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Hank van Strieland . Royal Air Force 320 Sqdn My grandfather's brother flew Mitchell B25s from Biggin Hill, 320 Squadron. I have a photo of him leaning out of the cockpit window. His plane was called "The Bombing Bastard".
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FO John Victor Van Tighem DFC. Royal Canadian Air Force 428 Ghost Squadren from Strathmore AB
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F/O Reginaif van Toen . Royal Air Force 10 OTU
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Fus. Antonius J. Van-der-Donk . Dutch Army
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F/O. Egbert Joost Van-Nagell . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 322 (Dutch) Squadron (d.28th January 1944) Flying Officer Baron Van Nagell is buried in the Barneveld New General Cemetery, Gelderland, The Netherlands.
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Mil Mstr Petrus Theodorus VanBeek . Dutch Navy from Holland POW Camp Fukuoka 17 in Japan
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Brig. Marinus VanBerkel . Dutch Army from Holland
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Pte. Percy Thomas Edward "Pete" Vanburg . British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment from Bristol My father, Percy Vanburg lied about his age and joined the Army. Later, when WW2 broke out he was posted overseas with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was captured at Dunkirk and was taken by cattle truck and ended up in Stalag VIIIB (344) and was a POW for 5 years.
During this time he was sent out on many working parties and made a few unsuccessful or short-lived escapes for which he was in solitary for 40 days on two occasions and another 40 days solitary for refusing to work when it was very cold on one working party. Two other men with him refused to work and they were told if they didn't get back to work they would be shot.... so they said well shoot us then. I guess this shows how bad the conditions must have been that they didn't care if they lived or not. The Germans lined them up and raised their guns and then relaxed, and then raised their guns again and when they realized they were serious and prepared to die. They were, instead, sent back to the camp where they did their 40 days solitary with very little food.
Towards the end of the war my father was forced to endure the Death March and saw many of his friends die either from dysentery, fatigue or killed by the German guards because they could no longer go on.
Eventually the guards left them and they had to march as best they could forward hopefully to their advancing own lines. Eventually, my father was picked up by an American jeep, transported back to his own lines and straight away home.
He continued on reserve and met and married my mother. When I was about 3 or 4 he was recalled to fight again in Korea. This time he was with the Northumberland Fusiliers but later once in Korea he transferred to the Gloucestershire Regiment and was at the Imjin River Battle where the Gloucesterhires became known as the Glorious Glosters and were awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation for their heroic stand where they held out for 4 days against l0,000 voluntary Chinese forces until they ran out of ammunition, most were killed or taken prisoner.
Luckily, for my dad he was sent out under fire at a crucial stage in the battle to get back to HQ and tell them about their dire situation and try to get more ammunition. But it was impossible for anyone to get back to them as they were totally surrounded and overrun and air drops of more ammunition simply rolled down the hills to the enemy.
Many of the men he was a POW with in Germany were captured here again and did a further 2 years as POWs only 15 Glosters got out of that battle and my dad was one of them. He was then repatriated home.
During his life he never spoke about the war to me although once he retired he did seem to take an interest in the Army again and joined the various associations and took part in parades and poppy day work.
I think he enjoyed being able to talk with other men about their experiences where they couldn't relate to civilians who had no idea about the awful experiences they had gone through.
On his death, when I was going through his things, I came across some tapes about some of his experiences which is how I have learned all this. I have uploaded them on the web and they can be heard at this link to a Stalag VIIIB site. They are under the Percy Vanburg and make quite interesting listening.
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Mil/Sgt. Meijer Emil vanDaalen . Dutch Army
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Sgt. W. Vandalli . RAF 300 Sqd.
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1Lt. Hendrik vandenBerg . Dutch Army 4th Infantry Unit from Alphen a/d Rijn My father, Henk van den Berg joined the army in Holland on 31st of March 1938, rising to the rank of Sergeant. He had to go into hiding when the Germans invaded Holland and joined the resistance.
He was transferred to the Dutch troops in England in March 1946 and was based in Catterick and Burniston Barracks Scarborough where he trained British troops before they were sent out to Korea.
Whilst in Catterick he met my Mum, Patricia Smale, who was with the ATS in Whitby.
They married on 5th of March 1946 in Alphen a/d Rijn and stayed in Holland for 2 years before settling in the UK.
He died in 1998 in a care home in Milton Keynes.
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Marinus "Rene" VanDenBerg . United States Army from Imlay City, Michigan
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Sgt. Arnold Lambert Marie VanDenBroek . Royal Air Force No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF from Holland (d.29th May 1942) On 29th May 1942 a Hudson V9122 'Wageningen' of 320 Squadron was hit by flak and exploded mid-air nr. Terschelling Island.
The crew were:
- Sgt. A.L.M. Van Den Broek - Missing in Action
- Maj. Pieter Buynink - Missing in Action
- Lac Hiddo Lukas Emmens - Missing in Action
- Lac Marius Versluis - Missing in Action
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R. A. VanDenBron . Royal Air Force No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF from Holland (d.29th March 1943) On 29th March 1943 there was a collison mid-air between two training-aircraft (Air Gunnery School) At Morpeth.
Crew Members were:
- R.A. Van Den Bron - KIA
- A.W. Van Egmond - KIA
- D.J. Kooij - KIA
- B.E. Van Opdprp - KIA
- F. Van Westenbrugge - KIA
All were buried at Morpeth Churchyard in Northumberland.
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F/O Hendrik Jan VanDerBerg . Royal Air Force No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF from Holland (d.27th January 1943) On 27th January 1943 the Hudson EW919 of 320 squadron was lost on a mission off the Dutch Coast.
Crew Members were:
- F/O Hendrik Jan Van Der Berg - Missing in Action
- Sgt. Christiaan Lodewijk Kost - Missing in Action
- Sgt. Tonnis Jakob Gast - Missing in Action
- Cpl. Jopy Henky Cloesmeijer - Missing in Action
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F/Lt. Cornelis Johannes VanDerGraaff . Royal Air Force No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF from Holland (d.26 June 1942) On 26th June 1942 a Hudson T9435 'Balikpapan' of 320 squadron was lost on 1,000 bomber raid to Bremen
The crew were:
- F/Lt. Cornelis Johannes Van Der Graaff - Killed in Action, buried at Hamburg-Ohldorf
- Lt. Willem Mattijsen - Killed in Action, buried at Hamburg-Ohldorf
- Cpl. Johannes But - Killed in Action, Buried at Loenen
- Ac1 Johan Berend Bolte - Killed in Action, Buried at Hamburg-Ohldorf
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Harry "Mack" Vanderweele . National Fire Service from Finsbury, London (d.12th December 1944) Harry Vanderweele died at Ashchurch, in service, he was seconded to another area, and was originally at Euston, London. His details are listed in the NFS Memory Book.
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Gerrit VanDerWolf . Royal Air Force No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF from Holland On 12th June 1944 a RAF plane, a Mitchell FR191 of 320 squadron, ditched in the sea at 21:02 hrs (GMT). All were rescued by a torpedo boat.
Crew members were:
- Off. Gerrit Van Der Wolf
- F/O Jan Willem Arriens
- Cpl. A.J. De Haan
- Sgt. T. Van Dijk
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F/O. Edward Raymond vanderZee . Royal Dutch Air Force 53 OTU. (d.3rd Mar 1945)
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A. J. VanDierenBijvoet . Royal Air Force No.320 Squadron (Netherlands) from Holland (d.28th Oct 1943) On the 28th October 1943 a plane, a Mitchell FR174 of 320 squadron was hit by flak. The aircraft went down in burning near Cherbourg, France.
Crew members were:
A.J. Van Dieren Bijvoet - MIA
Van Der Knaap - MIA
Sgt. P.F. Van Woesik - KIA washed ashore 5th November 1943 nr. Fort Hornet, Cherbourg, France.
Cpl. A.G. Apeldoorn - MIA no known grave.
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Cpl. Jan VanDonkelaar . Dutch Army
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Sgt. Hendrik vanEijk . Dutch Army
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