Thijs Foppen

Harderwijk 12 Oct 1907 ◐ – ?

Thijs Foppen, of Staverden I C 1, born at Harderwijk

About: A man of Staverden, near Elspeet, a labourer by the Americans' form ("a poor labourer family") and a painter's hand in 1937, living opposite the farmer Bos in Noordman's account, who hid American airmen for Dr Kruimel in the winter of 1943–1944 and, for one day by his own table (Groen has 12–17 October 1944), Tex Banwell, who by Hardy joined Murphy's party on 29 October at a house in the Leuvenum woods, ◐ Kijkuit (Noordman's name; Hardy gives none).

Unit or role: In no underground movement, by his own form (p. 2); a schildersknecht (painter's hand) when he married in 1937 (the marriage), "Foppen painter" on a Harderwijk helper's form of 1946 (Schmohl, p. 3). On the Americans' and the British lists of Dutch helpers at grade 5 (below).

Where: "Staverden I C 1" (his form, p. 2), "tegenover Bos" (opposite Bos) in Noordman's words (Noordman, p. 70); by 1946 at Ermelo (below).

Evidence: ✓ his own helper file with the Americans, 1945 (US National Archives 286654427, pp. 1–5, read on the images); ✓ the forms of Albert Groen, Nelly Eskes-Buis and Elbert Bos; ◐ the civil records of Harderwijk (Gelders Archief, via Open Archieven); Noordman, pp. 8, 17, 70, 133.

✓ His questionnaire of 27 June 1945, with "Dr. Kruimel" written across the top, gives him as Thijs Foppen of "Staverden I C 1", born at Harderwijk on "12-12-1907", Dutch, married, with two children of 6 and 1, known to the Allied men as "Thijs", in no underground movement (p. 2, read on the image). Its remarks:

Mrs. Foppen is always ill. It is a poor labourer family. Although she did not wish it, she got financial help. The food position is not very good. It is requested to send a food parcel and some clothes for children. Sheltered 4 Jews.

— Thijs Foppen · helper's form for the Americans · 27 June 1945 · his file, p. 2

Among the people he knew who had helped Allied personnel it names "Jhr. Henri van Geen, Putten" and "E. Hora Siccama, Utrecht" (typed "Hore", with a red handwritten mark over the e, and a tick in the margin), ◐ the second probably Rengers Hora Siccama, whose cover name was, ◐ by Kruimel's note, Eduard (the same page). The form does not say who the four Jews were or when he sheltered them.

His family, in the civil registers. ✓ A Thijs Foppen was born at Harderwijk on 12 October 1907, at nine in the morning, in a house on the Vischmarkt, the son of Arie Jan Foppen, 38, a fisherman, who declared the birth the same day, and his wife Everdina Luitjes (deed 198, read on the scan; the index; its day is not the form's, below). ◐ The same man, by the index, married Jannetje de Vroom, 25, at Harderwijk on 24 February 1937; he was 29, a schildersknecht, born at Harderwijk (the marriage). The match to the helper rests on the name, the place and year of birth and the ages. Everdina, a daughter of Thijs Foppen and Jannetje de Vroom, died at Harderwijk on 5 November 1961 aged 22 (the record); ◐ born about 1939, she fits the elder of the form's two children, aged 6 in June 1945. No record held says when he came to Staverden.

By Nelly Eskes's and Groen's dates (below) he was hiding airmen at Staverden from December 1943. His own table, whose only date is the shooting down of the first two (8 October 1943), "GEHOLPEN GEALLIEERD PERSONEEL" (Allied personnel helped), lists four men, each received from and passed back to "Uncle Joop", Dr Kruimel (p. 3, read on the image):

Left, Thijs Foppen's table, the back of his form of 27 June 1945; right, his neighbour Elbert Bos's, of 15 May 1946, with "Tijs Foppen" three times in the last column. US National Archives, RG 498 (Foppen; Bos).

Frank and Bill, December 1943 to January 1944. Four accounts of the two Americans, the B-17 men Frank B. McGlinchey and William Hosey MacDonald in Nelly Eskes's list (her file, p. 12):

• Nelly Eskes-Buis, who hid them with her husband Dirk Eskes at Nieuw-Milligen: "Frank and Bill stayed with us from the 19th of November till the ninth of December 1943; they couldn't stay any longer and we brought them to Thijs Foppen in Staverden". They left from there "in the beginning of January" and "were caught somewhere in Belgium", and "(Joop took care of their transport from Staverden.)" (her file, p. 7; the "19" written in ink over a struck number).
• Albert Groen, in hiding at the Bos farm opposite, in his handwritten Dutch version: "Frank McGlinchey 2e Lt" and "William M. McDonald 1e Lt", "USAAC (bombardier)", down "Oct '43 bij Groningen", "9 Dec '43 - 9 Jan '44 verborgen bij Foppen in Staverden (Post Elspeet)" (hidden with Foppen at Staverden) (his file, p. 5); the typed English translation has "9/12/43 - 9 Jan 44 sheltered with Foppen at Staverden" (p. 3).
• Elbert Bos: ◐ "Bil" and "Frank", first names only and very probably the same two, passed on to "Tijs Foppen and later on to Dirk Eskes" (his table, p. 3, read on the image).
• K. H. van Oord of Hollandsche Rading: "M. Glinchey 0-676329" and "M. Donald 0-672372", shot down in October 1943, received from "Groningen", with a handwritten note across the last two columns (his table, p. 4, read on the image). ⚠︎ It does not name Foppen.
  • Read line by line: "Ome Joop" - Dr. Kruimel. Brabant [?] escort from Elspeet - farmer Kaaymans [?] by train. Bos.
  • On the scan the lines break at the column rule, so by column it is "Ome Joop" - Dr. Kruimel. from Elspeet - farmer Bos. (received from) and Brabant [?] - escort Kaaymans [?] by train (passed on to). ◐ That reading is ours and fits Elbert Bos; the line reading does not say which Bos.

Capt. Binks, February 1944. Groen's handwritten table has "Gerald D. Binks Capt.", down "± 25/2/44 Stakenberg" (about 25 February 1944), "± 25 - 28 Feb '44 verborgen bij" the same, Foppen (p. 5; the typed translation on p. 3 drops his "±"); Foppen's table has him for 7 days. Noordman has "Binks was een aantal dagen bij Thijs Foppen in Staverden ondergebracht. Hij werd daar gebracht en weer opgehaald door dokter Kruimel." (Binks was lodged for a number of days with Thijs Foppen at Staverden. He was brought there and fetched again by Dr Kruimel.) (Noordman, p. 133).

"Albert". Bos's table also has an "Albert", down at Elspeet, received from Roelofsen at Staverden and passed to "Tijs Foppen" (p. 3). He is not on Foppen's own table and is not identified.

Noordman counts Foppen among the Staverden addresses, "boer Bos en Thijs Foppen in Staverden", where the men in Kruimel's guestbook were really lodged, and has Dirk and Nelly Eskes working much with "familie Bos en Thijs Foppen in Staverden" (Noordman, pp. 8, 17). Groen, writing in 1945, counted "in totaal drie Amerikaanse vliegers" (three American airmen in all) as his company there (p. 69): ◐ the three of his own table.

No source has Foppen meeting Murphy. His part in the story is the day he had Tex Banwell, who by Hardy was brought to Murphy's party on 29 October 1944 at "BRUMMAGER's house in LEUVENUM" (◐ Kijkuit, which Hardy does not name and Noordman does, pp. 292, 303), stayed with the larger party when Murphy's group turned back on Pegasus II on 20 November, and was with them again on 2 January 1945, in the barn at Kesteren where the party gathered for that night's attempt on the lines (Hardy).

⚠︎ Groen's account has Banwell leave De Ruif the day before the raid, after only a short stay. Albert Groen, hidden at the Bos farm at Staverden, wrote in August 1945 of "a real Londoner" who came to them in October 1944, having been "heel kort" (very briefly) at Kruimel's and left "precies op tijd" (just in time), the day before the Germans raided the house; Noordman identifies him as Banwell (Noordman, pp. 69–70), and in his own chapter on Banwell has him at De Ruif only "voor korte tijd" (for a short time) (p. 292). Noordman bases that on Banwell's guestbook entry of 8 October 1944, a leaving note, with "Eduard" and 9 October in the margin (pp. 292–293); ◐ Eduard is the cover name of Rengers Hora Siccama, and Noordman says it was written in his own hand and, a few sentences later, that "De toevoegingen zijn van dokter Kruimel" (the additions are Dr Kruimel's), so whose hand wrote it is not settled. The raid on De Ruif was on 23 October 1944 (Holvoet "op die 23e October" in Boeree, p. 163; the Airborne Magazine; Tijding, 17 May 1945; Johannes Kruimel), so ◐ by our reading Groen's letter has Banwell leave about 22 October. The Airborne Magazine gives that date: it has him come to Kruimel after the attack of 30 September and leave on 22 October, the day before the raid; ⚠︎ it may not be a second witness: it lists Noordman, who prints Groen's letter, among six sources, and gives no source for the date itself. Kessel had Tex at De Ruif, "very well established", when his own party came (◐ 17 October or a few days later: he escaped from Apeldoorn on the night of 16 October, Noordman, p. 309) and, when they left, Tex "for whom something else was being arranged" (Kessel, 1959, pp. 93–101); his account does not fit a stay that ended on 8 or 9 October, and his "ten days before we'd arrived" for the staff-car ambush does not fit his own arrival. These accounts do not agree on when Banwell was there; Groen's own form (below) gives yet another date. The quoted phrases are Noordman's Dutch rendering of Groen.

Three forms from Staverden put Banwell there, briefly, and only one gives a date, which does not fit Groen's letter either:

• Foppen's own has "Banwell Parachute Regt." for "1 day", undated, received from and passed back to "Uncle Joop" (his table, p. 3).
• Groen's, on which he struck out "Geholpen" (helped) and wrote "Gekend" (known), has "'Tex' Banwell. Sgt." hidden "± 12-17 Oct '44", "verborgen bij … id." (hidden with the same, Foppen at Staverden, as in the rows above) (Groen, p. 5).
• Elbert Bos's has "Tex", undated, received from "Dr. Kruimel" and passed to "Tijs Foppen and later on to Dirk Eisinga" (Bos, p. 3): ◐ Dirk van Eysinga of Elspeet, "Jhr. Dirk Eisinga, Elspeet now in Switzerland" on the same form (p. 2).

✓ The Americans recommended Grade 5 at their conference of 19 October 1945 (the folder has "Grade 5 Conf. 10. 19-10-'45", p. 1, read on the image), summing up his services as "Sheltered 4 pilots up to 6 weeks" (the action report, p. 5, read on the image; the summary sheet, p. 4). Their list of Grade 5 (Eisenhower) certificates has "(1282) FOPPEN, Thijs, I C I, Staverden" (the list, p. 51, read on the image), and the British index of Dutch helpers "27176", "FOPPEN, Thijs" and "I.C.1,Staverden" in its three columns, grade 5 (the index page).

By 1946 he had left Staverden. Elbert Bos's form of 15 May 1946 has "Tijs FOPPEN, Staverden now in Ermelo" (p. 2), and Groen's of 10 March 1946, in a pencilled line on the typed English translation, "Thys Foppen, now living at Hardewijkerweg 96, Ermelo"; Groen's handwritten Dutch version has his wartime address and "thans p/a Harderwijkerweg 96 Ermelo" (now care of Harderwijkerweg 96, Ermelo) (p. 2; p. 4). On 16 April 1946 J. J. Schmohl of Harderwijk, of the hotel De Zwarte Boer at Leuvenum, listed "E. Bos. farmer Staverden Postelspeet." and, with ditto marks for the same place, "Foppen painter." among the helpers he knew (Schmohl, p. 3, read on the image).

◐ Jannetje de Vroom, his wife of the 1937 marriage, died at Harderwijk on 7 June 1964, aged 52; the index names Thijs Foppen as her "(ex-)partner", its word for a spouse (the record). No record of his own death has been found.

• His birthday. "12-12-1907" on his form and the Americans' summary sheet (p. 2; p. 4); 12 October 1907 in the Harderwijk birth index, which gives the same day for the registration, deed 198 (the record). ✓ The deed itself, read on the scan, has the birth on "den twaalfden October" 1907, declared the same day (deed 198), so ◐ the form's December is probably a slip of the month; ◐ that the deed's Thijs is the helper rests on the name, place, year and the 1937 marriage ages.
• His wife's age. 36 on his form of June 1945 (p. 2); 25 at the marriage of February 1937 and 52 at her death in June 1964, which make her about 33 in 1945 (the marriage; the death). ◐ The form's figure may be a slip; the match of the man to the records stands on the other points.
• Frank and Bill.
  • Where they came from: "Uncle Joop" in his table; Nelly Eskes's house in her letter, "we brought them"; Bos has them passed from himself to Foppen (p. 3; her letter, p. 7; Bos, p. 3).
  • Where they went: back to "Uncle Joop" in his table and in Nelly's letter; "later on to Dirk Eskes" in Bos's. ◐ Her letter is the more detailed on their coming: she says she brought them herself.
  • How long: "about 6 weeks" in his table; 9 December to 9 January, a month, in Groen's; from 9 December to "the beginning of January" in Nelly's.
  • The second man's name: "William M.McDonald" in Groen's table; "William Hosey MacDonald" in Nelly's list (p. 12).
  • Bos has "Bil, Frank, Albert and Tex arrived all safely in England" (p. 2); Nelly has Frank and Bill caught in Belgium; Noordman has them lose their way in a snowstorm in the Pyrenees on 5 February 1944 and be stopped by a German patrol, McGlinchey going on to Stalag Luft I, from Michael Moores LeBlanc and F. Govers's Pyama-House, which we have not seen (Noordman, pp. 128–130).
  • Where they came down: "Groningen" in his table and Groen's; Noordman has McDonald's bomber crash at Lippenhuizen, Friesland, on 8 October 1943, and McDonald land in a beet field just south of the village (pp. 14, 125).
• Binks. 7 days in his table; 25 to 28 February 1944 in Groen's; Noordman, citing Foppen's form, has "van 21 tot 28 februari" (from 21 to 28 February), dates the form itself does not give (Noordman, p. 133). Noordman has Binks's bomber, the Crazy Horse, lost on the Diepholz mission on 21 February (p. 131): ◐ that may be where his 21 February comes from.
• Banwell. 1 day in his table; 12 to 17 October in Groen's; see Banwell at Staverden and Banwell's page.
• "4 pilots". The Americans' summary counts four pilots; one of the four on his table, Banwell, was a paratrooper (p. 3).

Not him. A second Thijs Foppen, born at Harderwijk on 21 May 1920, the son of Karel Foppen, a fisherman's hand, married there in 1946 (the birth; the marriage); the records of 1946 and 1948 that name a Thijs Foppen with a wife other than Jannetje de Vroom are his (the 1948 one, a five-week-old child's death at Harderwijk, names as the mother the bride of the 1946 marriage).

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