Flt Lt David Ward

1918 or 1919 ◐ – 2008 ◐

About: The bomb aimer of a 644 Squadron Halifax that crash-landed near Putten on 6 October 1944, hidden around Voorthuizen and then, with his navigator Walter McGeachin, on Jacob Veerman's farm at Klein Achterveld, from which he went to the Pegasus II crossing on 17 November 1944, eight days before Murphy and Hardy came to the farm. Shot and captured on that crossing, he escaped from a German hospital at Apeldoorn in January 1945 and was liberated at Nijkerk in April; ◐ very probably the "David" whom Jopie and her husband visited in England in 1974.

Unit or role: Flight Lieutenant Richard David WARD, DFC, 130411, RAFVR, of Bescaby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire; he went by his second name, David. Bomb aimer, 644 Squadron (the squadron's crew record), Halifax V LL403 (9U-G) (SGLO loss register T4475); commissioned from the ranks as "1578006 Richard David WARD (130411)" with effect from 9 October 1942, gazetted on 29 December (London Gazette 35837, p. 5642); ✓ "R D WARD (130411)" is among the Pilot Officers made Flying Officers on probation (war substantive) from 9 April 1943, six months on, in the supplement of 4 June 1943 (p. 2569, read on the page image).

Where: Voorthuizen, Terschuur, Klein Achterveld; Pegasus II; hospitals at Hoenderloo and Apeldoorn; Wapenveld, Hattem, Apeldoorn, Nijkerk. Home: Bescaby House, Waltham, near Melton Mowbray.

Evidence: ◐ That he is Jacques's "David": every part of the description is in a record (hidden on the farm, called David, English, a farming family keeping sheep) except that Jacques says "soldier" and Ward was an airman, and no record of the 1974 visit has been found. ✓ SGLO evader register E0842; the Veermans' own list for the Americans, 1946 (US National Archives 286713002); the Voorthuizen helpers' lists (Van Haeften, p. 31); the London Gazette; the forms of the people who hid him after his escape, 1945–46 ('t Hart, van der Ziel, Woltman, van den Berg); the Kew catalogue (the entries); Leicestershire newspapers (the searches).

He farmed at Bescaby with his father before he joined up: the Grantham Journal of 12 January 1945 has "F O Ward previously farmed Bescaby with his father" and gives his age as twenty-six (the search's text reads "Twenty-six tears old"), so ◐ born in 1918 or 1919, and the Melton Mowbray Times of the same day calls him "Flying Officer Richard David Ward, second son of Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Ward, Bescaby House, Melton" (the searches). He went by David: Kew's catalogue has "Flying Officer D. Ward" in a crewmate's report (the entries), and Noordman credits a photograph of the crew to "D. Ward, Engeland" and lists letters from "Mr. D. Ward" of 1987 to 1991 among his sources (Noordman, fig. 174).

Arnhem, September 1944. ✓ The squadron's record of his sorties, with Baird's crew, has him towing gliders to Holland on the first two days of the Arnhem landings, "Market I" on 17 September, "Glider dropped on target", "Market II" on 18 September, "Horsa Glider dropped on target", and again on 21 September, "Horsa Glider dropped on target" (the crew record). ◐ Fifty years on he was one of the airmen who helped Martin Middlebrook with Arnhem 1944 (1994): the book's acknowledgements list "F/O R. D. Ward" under 644 Squadron (p. 482; the text, read through the Internet Archive's search; the initials and squadron are his).

The crash. Halifax LL403 was on a supply drop for the Dutch resistance on the night of 5/6 October 1944. Badly damaged, it made an emergency landing near the hamlet of Gerven, by Putten, just after midnight, and the whole crew of six survived (SGLO loss register T4475; Aviation Safety Network). The crew were hidden first by the Kamphuis family at Voorthuizen, then on the Dasler and Van Donkersgoed farms by the railway; to lessen the risk they were split up, and Ward and McGeachin went to the teacher Vlasman at Terschuur for some days (SGLO E0842; Kamphuis; Van Donkersgoed). The Voorthuizen helpers wrote down his home address for the Americans: "R.D.Ward, Bescaby House, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire" (Van Haeften, p. 31).

On the Veerman farm. From Terschuur "the two went to the farm of Jacob Veerman in Achterveld" (SGLO E0842). The Veermans' own list has "R.D. WARD. No. 130411 Flight Lieutenant" and "W. Q. Mc Geachin. navigator", RAF, on the farm from 25 October for thirty days, received from Gijs van Zijtveld and passed on to Jan Dijkstra, as Murphy and Hardy were after them (the table of 9 May 1946); the family's two copies of 24 May have them there from 20 October to 20 November, "Piloot" and "Australia. Navigator", and back to Gijs at the end (the copies, and). ◐ They were very probably the Englishman and the Australian the family remembered, though Jopie's sister Alie put those two in 1943 (Alie Veerman, p. 83; Jacob Veerman).

Pegasus II. On 17 November Ward and McGeachin were taken to the starting point at Meulunteren, and on the night of 18 November the party of about 120 ran into a German sentry and scattered (SGLO E0842; Operation Pegasus II). It was the crossing Murphy's party had been meant for and did not reach (Noordman, p. 284, Hardy's account; Hardy's report). Ward was hit by a bullet that went in at his left shoulder blade and ran along his spine to his hip, and a German patrol found him; Kew's card has him "Captured near Renkum Holland" (the entries). McGeachin was taken on 19 November (SGLO E0839; Ballarat, below) and held as a prisoner of war: Stalag Luft 7 at Bankau by his Kew record, which gives no date of capture (the entries), Stalag Luft VIII by the Ballarat POW memorial (Ballarat). A week later, on 25 November, Murphy and Hardy came to the same farm: the family's table has them on the farm from "25 Nov", beside Ward and McGeachin (the table; Achterveld).

Hospital and escape. He was taken to the German field hospital at the Deelerwoud, Hoenderloo, then to the Juliana hospital at Apeldoorn, where Maj. Rigby Jones, a captured airborne surgeon, took the bullet out of his hip, and on 1 December to the field hospital in the St Joseph Stichting at Apeldoorn. Told on 18 January 1945 that they would go to Germany the next day, he, Maj. Charles Sherriff of the King's Own Scottish Borderers and S/Sgt Bob de Lange, an American gunner, got out that night through the one window without bars, in blankets with their feet wrapped in bandages, and hid in a haystack near Oene. They were hidden at Wapenveld, at Hattem and at Apeldoorn, and by SGLO's dates from 4 March Ward and Sherriff were with the Van de Berg family at Nijkerk, where they were liberated on 18 April 1945 (SGLO E0842); the helpers' own forms put the move to Nijkerk in mid-March and the liberation on 17 April (below). Kew's catalogue: "Escaped from hospital in Holland and contacted Allied Forces" (the entries).

◐ Listed missing. The Air Ministry's list of missing airmen in Flight of 22 February 1945, which came out after he had escaped from the Apeldoorn hospital and while he was hidden, has "F/O. R. D. Ward", with his earlier rank (the Gazette has him a flight lieutenant from 9 October 1944), and, next to it, "Sgt. A. J. Ward", whom the initials tell apart; the same page has "Act. Flt. Lt. G. S. Stout, D.F.C." and "Flt. Sgt. P. L. Whittaker" of 617 Squadron's NF923, for whom see Peter Whittaker (the page).

The nurse and the two majors. Sister Roelfina Kalkema, a nurse at Apeldoorn, "Nursed two English Majors, who had come down by parachute near Arnhem, from September 1944 till January 1945", gave them clothes and food on 12 January 1945, "Looked after underdive-address and helped to escape", and then had to stop and go into hiding because the S.D. were looking for her (her form; the Dutch original). Her table names them "G.Sheriff,Major" and "P.Warr,Major.", both passed on to "Rev.v.h.Hart, Wapenveld." (her table). She does not name Ward. The second major was Peter Warr of the 10th Parachute Battalion: by the Pegasus Archive he and Sherriff planned their escape at the "Luidina Hospital" (◐ the Juliana) with the nurses' help and had themselves moved to the St Joseph hospital on 7 January 1945, but when they were told they would go to Germany, Warr felt "not fit enough for such a venture" and stayed, "leaving Major Sherriff free to complete his escape in the company of others" (Warr). Both had the DSO for Arnhem: "Major (temporary) Charles Gordon SHERRIFF (65928), The King's Own Scottish Borderers (Hayling Island)" and "Major (temporary) Peter Esmond WARR, M.B.E. (187052), The Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps (Hindhead)" (London Gazette, 20 September 1945, p. 4683). Dr M. C. J. Pilaar, the surgeon at the Juliana, listed "Major P.E. Warr. D.S.O." and "Major G.E. Sherriff. D.S.O." among the officers he treated (his list).

Wapenveld. Ds. Nicolaas 't Hart, the minister at Wapenveld, listed "David Ward | R.A.F." for three days, with Sherriff for four and de Lange for three: "escaped from St. Joseph Hospital", "Zus. Kalkemar gave address of Pastor 't Hart (moved themselves)", passed on to Henk Kloosterziel (his form of 14 January 1946; the interviewer's pencil original). His second form, of 18 February 1946, has "R.David Ward", RAF, from Voorthuizen, two days in January 1945, received from "Miss Kalkema, Apeldoorn / Hospital Sprengenweg" and passed to "H. Kloosterziel Heerde" (the second form). Earlier, from October 1944 for 40 to 42 days, he had sheltered Capt. Theo Redman and Leslie Davison, who had jumped from a prisoners' train in October; "Pastor 't Hart sheltered two pilots (American) and three English Parachutists for a total of 52 days" (his remarks).

Hattem. Willem van der Ziel of Hattem had "R.D. Ward" and "Robert de Lange" from 22 January for 54 days, received from "Ds. N. 't Hart, Wapenveld" and passed to H. Kloosterziel (his form of 7 February 1946), and Marten van der Ziel listed the same two under "TRANSPORT", from 't Hart to Hattem (his form). Sherriff was with Dirk Borst on the Kleine Gracht at Hattem, "23/1- 18/3-45", 56 days, from and to H. Kloosterziel (Borst's form).

Apeldoorn. Jacob Dirk Woltman, a reserve captain, of Jachtlaan 48, Apeldoorn, took in thirteen Allied men in all (the Americans' card, 17 January 1946). His form of 31 August 1945 has "WARD R.D. (flying officer)" from "16-3-'45" for "3 days", with de Lange and "SHERIFF C.G. (glider major)" for three days each, received from "T. Woltman Jachtlaan 48" and passed on to J. Buitenhuis of the Rostocklaan "and L.J.G. Woltman" (the form); ◐ T. Woltman is the daughter of the house, "Miss T. Woltman", a courier (the form's front), though the same form's next of kin is "T. Woltman-Domny [?]", so the "T. Woltman" he was received from could be either woman. The family's earlier list names "R.D. WARD Flying Officer R.A.F." among the thirteen, with "No records of dates kept" (the list), and Jan Buitenhuis's own list begins "The same as Family Woldman" (his form).

Nijkerk. Cornelis van 't Land of Epe, typed "the leader of the LKP in Gelderland" and, added in ink, "Leader-Commander Veluwe L.O." (his form), took Sherriff and Ward to Hendrikus van den Berg at Nijkerk: "Major C.G. Sherriff, Gorseney, Hayling Island, Hampshire, England", "Same but 15-3-44 [sic] to 17-4-45", and "R.D. Ward, Bescaby House, Meston, Mowbray, Leicester, England", "Same." (his table). Van den Berg, of Schoenlapperweg E 58, had "R.D. WARD 130411 | RAF" from "15.3.45" for 31 days, received from "C. v. 't LAND", and "Liberated on 17 Apr 45." (his second form); his first has Sherriff "Sheltered from 15-3-45 until 17-4-45" and Ward the same (the first form), and the Americans' card "R. D. Ward, 130411, RAF, 31 days." (the card).

Home. He reached Bescaby on Sunday 22 April 1945 (the newspaper reports). He had been promoted flight lieutenant from 9 October 1944, mentioned in despatches in the New Year list of 1945, and awarded the DFC with 644 Squadron in February 1945 (London Gazette 36787, p. 5144 and p. 5145; 36866, p. 71; 36931, p. 818).

Bescaby. He married and farmed on at Bescaby; ◐ twin sons were born to a David Ward of Bescaby and his wife at the Oakham nursing home in July 1947, the tie being the name and the farm, and the family farm, R. C. Ward and Son, appears in the local papers with its sheep in 1960 and 1961 (the searches; and sheep). ◐ In 1974, very probably, Jopie and her husband visited him, on the trip on which Jopie found Murphy at Loch Lomond (Jopie Veerman). ◐ He died in 2008, by the RAF 38 Group association's In Memoriam list, which has under 2008 "R.D. WARD DFC – 420 & 644 Squadrons" (the list); the tie is the initials, the DFC and 644 Squadron, and the list's 420 Squadron appears nowhere else on this page.

His own telling, 2005. ◐ John Nichol interviewed him in June 2005 for Home Run (2007), whose notes cite "David Ward, interview with JN, June 2005, and Mel Rolfe, Bomber Boys (Grub Street, 2004)" (p. 492). The book has the Halifax clipping a tree at 180 mph and fire breaking out (p. 381); on Pegasus II, at 2 a.m. with the river three miles off, the column splitting into smaller groups until "Out of the darkness, a startled David Ward heard a loud shout. Halt! They had stumbled on a German sentry" (p. 384); and, "Shot in the back by a German soldier during Pegasus II", his escape "from a military hospital with two other prisoners", a pigsty, and at last "a permanent home for them, with an undertaker" (p. 404). Its plates include "David Ward with the family who sheltered him in Holland in 1945" (the text, read through the Internet Archive's search, not on the page). The book does not name the families.

• The date of the crash. The Voorthuizen helpers' forms have "26-9-44 Putten", and the Veermans' "September" may follow them; the squadron record, the SGLO register, the Aviation Safety Network, Kew and the newspapers all have 5/6 October 1944.
• When he was on the farm. The family's table of 9 May 1946 has him from 25 October for thirty days; their copies of 24 May have 20 October to 20 November (the tables); SGLO has him taken to Pegasus II on 17 November.
• When he moved to Apeldoorn and Nijkerk. SGLO has Kloosterziel bring the three to the Woltmans on 28 February 1945, and Ward and Sherriff at Nijkerk from 4 March (SGLO E0842). Six helpers' forms, written separately in 1945–46, put both moves in mid-March and agree with one another to within a day or two:
  • Hattem: Willem van der Ziel from 22 January for 54 days (his form); Borst, Sherriff from 23 January to 18 March (his form).
  • Apeldoorn: Woltman from 16 March for three days (his form).
  • Nijkerk: van den Berg from 15 March for 31 days, twice, and the Americans' card (his forms, and, the card); van 't Land "15-3-44 [sic] to 17-4-45" (his table). The overlap of 15 and 16 March is the forms' own.
  • ◐ The forms' mid-March is the better-supported date; SGLO cites Noordman's book of 2010 for the story, which has not been checked.
• The day of liberation. 17 April 1945 on both of van den Berg's forms and on van 't Land's (van den Berg; van 't Land); 18 April in SGLO (E0842). ◐ 17 April, from the two men who hid and moved him.
• How they found 't Hart. SGLO has Kalkema give Sherriff the address of the church at Wapenveld, the three knock at the wrong church, and that minister take them to 't Hart (E0842). 't Hart's form has "Zus. Kalkemar gave address of Pastor 't Hart (moved themselves)" (his form). The two need not conflict.
• Kalkema's two majors. Her form passes Sherriff and Warr to 't Hart and does not name Ward (her table). 't Hart's lists name Sherriff, de Lange and Ward, not Warr (his form), and the Pegasus Archive has Warr stay behind as a prisoner (Warr). ◐ Her form records the escape she prepared for the two majors; in the event Sherriff went with Ward and de Lange.
• "A concentration camp." By the family's own questionnaire, item 10 of the handwritten Dutch original, "R.D.WARD en … W.Q.Mc … geachin hebben beiden in een concentratie kamp gezeten, in Duitsland, of Holland" (Ward and McGeachin were both in a concentration camp, in Germany or Holland) (Veerman file, p. 4; Achterveld on the family's record). ✗ Not so: Ward was in German military hospitals and escaped, and McGeachin was a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 7; neither has a record in the Arolsen camp series (the searches).

Everyone, A to Z