Pte Frank McNaught

8 Mar 1922 – ?

Pte Frank McNaught (3131378)

About: A paratrooper of the 11th Battalion whose Dakota crash-landed near Rhenen on 18 September 1944. He hid near Rhenen and at a Kootwijkerbroek farm (◐ Heimen van Esveld's), where Haller of Murphy's party wintered with him, and crossed with Walsh in March 1945.

Unit or role: Private, 3131378, Medium Machine Gun Platoon, Support Company, 11th Parachute Battalion, 4th Parachute Brigade (his page; the recommendation, p. 5).

Where: Thurmaston, near Leicester: "18 Winste Dr" in his report, "18 Winsterdrive - Leicester" on Hollebrands's list (his report; Hollebrands, p. 3). In Holland: the Veldhovens' farm at Achterberg, Rhenen; a haystack at the "ESVHEILT" farm, Kootwijkerbroek; Molenaarsgraaf and Sliedrecht (his report).

Evidence: ✓ his MI9 report, IS9/WEA/1/290/2385, interviewed 7 March 1945, as the Pegasus Archive transcribes it (his page); ✓ the recommendation for his mention in despatches, WO 373/64/318 (the transcript); ✓ London Gazette, 20 September 1945, p. 4685; ✓ the Dutch helpers' files with the Americans, below; the Kew catalogue entries.

He was born on 8 March 1922 and was from Thurmaston, near Leicester; his report gives his trade before the army as "App Cast iron Moulder" (apprentice cast-iron moulder) and his army service as five years and a fraction the transcription garbles (his report). The Pegasus Archive has him enlist in the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1939 as a boy soldier; volunteer for special forces in the Middle East; pass Parachute Course 44 at Ramat David, 26 May to 8 June 1943; serve with the Special Raiding Squadron; and transfer to the Army Air Corps on 8 January 1944 from a heavy anti-aircraft unit of the Royal Artillery, then join the 11th Battalion's machine-gun platoon (his page, citing the Parachute Regiment's transfer book and the course report). He was married: he later took his wife's maiden name, Payne, as a cover name (same, below).

The Pegasus Archive has him take off from Saltby in a C-47 of the 314th Troop Carrier Group, bound for Ginkel Heath (his page); his report has "a Dakota at about 1130 hours" from "an A/F near LEICESTER". Over the Dutch coast he was slightly wounded in the legs and arm by flak; near Rhenen the aircraft was hit again and the starboard engine caught fire. His company commander, Capt. Frank Douglas King by the Pegasus Archive's note (his report):

… immediately gave the order to jump and he baled out followed by our C.S.M. … and another Paratrooper. Our height at the time was in the neighbourhood of 600 feet and the aircraft started to go into a dive thereby making it impossible for any others to jump. However the pilot, Capt. MERS, USAAF, made an excellent crash landing in a field despite the fact that the forward part of the aircraft was filled with smoke.

— MI9 · Pte F. McNaught, 11th Parachute Battalion · IS9/WEA/1/290/2385 · March 1945 · the report

• Who they were. The Pegasus Archive's notes name the C.S.M. W.O.II George Gatland, the pilot Capt. George D. Merz and the co-pilot ("Lt. WOOD") 2/Lt. Ernest W. Haagensen, and three of the crew killed (his report).
• Spriggs and Metcalfe. As he left he found Pte Spriggs lying by the door and Sjt Metcalfe of his company unable to move; he told the sergeant he would come back, "and I jumped out pulling SPRIGGS with me". He hurt both ankles in the drop; the burning aircraft's ammunition went off before anyone could reach Metcalfe, whose body, he later heard, was buried near Rhenen (same).
• The ditch. He crawled into a ditch about 25 yards away; the two pilots hid in it too. After about an hour a man came; the officers went off with him, then came back for McNaught when he shouted, and helped him "to a farm about one mile away" (same).

The landing place, "about one kilometre N.W. of RHENEN at approx. position (Sheet 5, 515767)", converts (◐ by our conversion) to the Klaassenweg, Rhenen, by the method of the converted references (good to about 300 m; the conversion is ours). His citation tells the same in short: "McNAUGHT, who was one of the last to leave, pulled out an injured man as he jumped to the ground", and "An hour later a Dutchman approached and arranged shelter" (the recommendation, p. 5).

◐ A pilot's account in John Waddy's A Tour of the Arnhem Battlefields (1999) tells the same crash from the cockpit: "My co-pilot, Lieut Haagensen, and I escaped out of the top hatch", and "Shortly a Dutchman approached, and he persuaded us to follow him to his father's farm near Rhenen"; "Our saviour was Peter van Veldhoven" (Waddy, p. 103; transcript). The pilot's name was on the page before, which was not read; Waddy adds under it "(This was the aircraft from which Capt Frank King and his men jumped.)". ◐ The pilot is probably Merz, from the matching co-pilot and farm.

His report names the man as "Piet VELDHOVEN", who "took us to his father's farmhouse" at map reference 513776 (◐ by our conversion, the Cuneraweg, Rhenen), where he lived with "VELDHOVEN senior, who was an engine driver, his son PIET and two daughters DICKIE and JANNIE" (his report). ⚠︎ He "gathered that their mother had been taken to a concentration camp for harbouring a Jew" (same; no other source held says so). McNaught had a bedroom; the two American officers a cellar under the house; he stayed five weeks.

The Rhenen helpers' own forms have him too:

• ✓ Van Kerkwijk. C. J. van Kerkwijk of Rhenen lists "Frank Naught", RAF, "18-9-44", Achterberg (Rhenen), "sprained ankle", 18 Winster Drive, Thurmaston, beside Capt. George Christian Merz, "was wounded at his lower jaw" (his table, p. 6; image-checked). ◐ Van Doesburg's file says "Dr. KERKWIJK in RHENEN gave medical help to the Tommies" (p. 5).
• ✓ Van Doesburg. Hendricus van Doesburg's supplement of 28 May 1945 has "Frank McNAUGHT, Paratrooper, 18 Winter Drive, THURMASTON, nr. LEICESTER, England, was taken with Dave to BENNEKOM in October by van DOESBURG", Dave being the American Dave de Santis, who had stayed three weeks with Evert van Dam at Achterberg and one week "at P. van VELDHOVEN's" (his file, p. 5).
• ◐ Van Harn. Peter van Harn of Wageningen, who "transported many pilots by bicycle", lists "Fr. Mc. Naught sd Par." with "D.D. Snatis", "G. Metz" and "W. Haayeson", and gives "Sold. Fr. Mc. Naught, Etelly [?] Scotland" as a man who could vouch for him (his file, p. 3; image-checked by the transcriber; his address, Grindweg 119, Wageningen, on p. 2, OCR). His list gives no dates.

The arrest of about 11 October. On about 11 October Eevid van Dam, an ex-policeman friend of the family who had the American sergeant "DECENTIAS" (◐ De Santis) with him, suggested McNaught move to his house; his report adds that, as no English was spoken in either house, "it was thought that it would be company for DECENTIAS, who was alone there" (his report). He set off in overalls with "a young guide, first name WALTER, whose father was the police chief in RHENEN":

• A German N.C.O. grabbed him on the main road and saw his battle-dress; with a soldier armed with a Schmeisser he marched the two of them to an empty house, took McNaught's Colt and Walter's revolver, and kept his discs and the page of his pay book with his particulars (same).
• At about 16:30 the N.C.O. came back. Walter jumped on him and held his throat, "while I managed to get hold of the German's bayonet and ran it through him as near the heart as possible"; when the sentry came to the door Walter ran the bayonet through him, and the two ran back to the Veldhovens' (same).
• His citation: "They were locked in an empty house but escaped after killing two guards, the initiative being taken by the civilian who unexpectedly attacked the first German as he entered the room" (the recommendation, p. 5).
• Next day, warned of a search, he and the two Americans hid in a hide in the haystack, reached through the loft over the deel (threshing floor), while Germans searched the house; the Veldhovens thought they were looking for radio sets (his report).

The railway. On the night of 13 October he went out with a sabotage party of six young men, Piet and Walter among them, and put Hawkins grenades on the rails of a single-track line at about 480839; they heard an explosion, and "We heard next day from friends in the area that the train had been derailed". Three nights later they cut the line again at about 510795 with gelignite; his S.A.S. training in explosives helped. They stopped when they learned the Germans had "seized and shot the occupants of a house near the scene of our second operation", a man, his wife and daughter, and destroyed the house (same). His citation: "Owing to German reprisals on innocent civilians this work was not continued" (the recommendation, p. 5).

About 20 October the two American officers left by bicycle for what he later learned was Pegasus I; there were no bicycles for him and De Santis. On 21 October Piet took the two of them by bicycle to about 540808 (◐ by our conversion, the Slagsteeg, Bennekom), where a horse-drawn cart marked with the Red Cross, in the care of a mother and daughter who had lived in America, took them to an office at Lunteren; there an elderly man who appeared to be in charge gave them ration books, and his son took them "to a farm at KOOTWIJKERBROEK (575968)" (his report). ◐ Van Doesburg's "taken with Dave to BENNEKOM in October" is the same move (his file, p. 5).

He gives the family as "ESVHEILT", father, mother, two daughters and five sons. ◐ Very probably Heimen van Esveld's farm: Heimen of Kootwijkerbroek listed "Ptv Frank Mc. Naught 3131378 | P.R." among the men he sheltered, with De Santis for 112 days, all "Joop and Dick" (his list, p. 8), and the American card for De Santis has him "With McNaught (British-IS9WEA/1/290/2385) from 11 Oct 44" and "at farm of ESVELD" (the card, image-checked). ◐ "From 11 Oct" is the day his report has him set off for Eevid van Dam's, where De Santis was living, and be arrested on the way; the report does not say when De Santis came to the Veldhovens' and first has the two of them travelling together on 21 October, so the card's date is probably the planned move, not the day they met. His reference, 575968, falls on the Wesselseweg, Kootwijkerbroek, about 2.8 km from Heimen's address in 1945, Dwarsgraafweg 5 (the converted references).

Here we lived in a room constructed in a haystack about 500 yards from the farmhouse. This room was made with supports inside the stack and was about 10 ft wide by about 6 ft high. To enter one simply pulled out sufficient straw and crawled in. Each night ESVHEILT would come himself to see that the entrance was properly concealed from the outside.

— MI9 · Pte F. McNaught, 11th Parachute Battalion · IS9/WEA/1/290/2385 · March 1945 · the report

• Maguire. Maj. Hugh Maguire, "an I.O. of 1 airborne Division", was living with the family when they came and then joined them in the haystack; about 11 November he left them, telling them someone would come for them at the appointed time (his report).
• Dick and Joop. On 23 October "DICK and JOOP" (◐ Dick Kragt and Joop Piller) visited; a few nights later Dick questioned him about the escape, destroyed his pay book and told him to take another name and number: "henceforward I used my wife's maiden name PAYNE and assumed the number 3132313" (same).
• Two Americans. "During the first few days of November" the hide took in "the co-pilot and navigator of a Fortress crew, Lt. Charlie (surname unknown) and Lt. Norris (surname unknown)", shot down on a Berlin raid about seven months earlier (same). ◐ Charles Ramlow and Noyes Richey are the probable pair, both on Heimen's list (p. 8); ⚠︎ the dates do not fit: Ramlow's own report has them at Goorhuis's, Essenerweg, from 14 October to 15 November and at Esveld's only from 19 November, after McNaught left for Pegasus II on 17 November (Heimen van Esveld sets out the dates).
  • ◐ Ramlow's report also has him and Richey leave Barneveld on 15 November for the Pegasus II rendezvous near Otterloo, where "all the evaders assembled" (Ramlow, p. 4), the march McNaught joined on 17 November (below), so Richey's "in November 44" may mean no more than that. Ramlow's report does not name McNaught.

✓ Richey's card in the Americans' list of missing airmen has "With McNAUGHT (IS9(WEA)/1/290/2385 - British) in November 44", his report number, so the card means this man; ◐ what "with" means (the haystack, or only the march) it does not say. Above it the card puts Richey, with two other airmen, in "the group of ninety evaders that tried to cross the Rhine in November" and "captured by the Germans in the ambush", and a pencil note adds "Evading - see E&E 2939-2940" (the card; image-checked). The card gives no place; it does not tie the two lines to each other.

No source held puts McNaught and Murphy together. Their paths crossed in Pegasus II, the failed crossing of 17/18 November 1944, in which Murphy's party of six lost the column before reaching it (Pegasus II), and through two men of that party: the glider pilot Bernard Haller, who spent the winter at the Kootwijkerbroek farm with McNaught, and Sam Walsh, who went out with him in February 1945.

At about 17:30 on 17 November Dick came for them; after about 45 minutes' walk they joined "a party of about 30 E & E's", Lipmann Kessel among them, at a shed near a farm, were issued Stens and rations, and were briefed by Maguire (his report). "On the operation (Pegasus II) I was one of the five paratroopers at the head of the column with major. McGUIRE", and his story to the Arnhem–Ede road is, he says, Kessel's (same). When the Spandau on the road opened up he went on through the wood south of the road, met Flying Officer Goggin and an R.A.M.C. officer in a ploughed field, and split from them as the Germans' fire came closer (same). His citation: "an organised attempt to reach Allied lines, which failed during the crossing of the ARNHEM-EDE road" (the recommendation, p. 5).

• The dropping zone and the wood. He went south to the old dropping zone, by the empty containers (about 625830), and hid in a ditch under a container; at daylight four or five men in civilian clothes, with S.S. caps and Schmeissers, chased him into a young fir wood near 633820, where he lay four days while they patrolled the paths (his report).
• 23 November. At about 10:00, when the patrolling man sat down to eat a few paces away, "Seizing a stout piece of wood nearby I sprang forward and hit him over the head as hard as I could. He fell like a log." He took the sandwiches and went west along the railway (same).
• Ede. On the outskirts of Ede a workman gave him his coat and cap. A boy on a bicycle brought food, overalls and a second bicycle at 17:00 and took him to an evacuated farm at about 542850, where only the farmer's son lived; he stayed three days and did not learn either name (same). ◐ By our conversion the reference falls by the Neonstraat, Ede, about 3.2 km from Maanderdijk 32 (PDOK).
• The walk north. On 26 November he set off again, travelling six days across country, fed at farms and lodged on two nights. At about 16:00 on 1 December he knocked at a house by a railway at about 516984 (◐ De Landweer, Barneveld, by our conversion), a meeting place of the local underground, who questioned him hard and sent word to Dick (same).

His citation: "Friendly civilians provided him with food en route, and six days later he met one of his former helpers" (the recommendation, p. 5).

The helpers' forms for these weeks. Four Dutch forms have him at Ede and Voorthuizen in November or at its end; Pater's and Van Barneveld's dates do not fit his report's, Engelaan's gives none, and Van Donkersgoed's fits only in part:

• ✓ Pater. Johan Pater of Renswoude, whose address known to Allied men was "Maanderdyk 32, Ede", has "Frank McNAUGHT. | R.A.F. | Sept.17. | Rhenen. | 9.11.44. | 14. | E. van Barneveld. | E. Donkersgoed." (his table, p. 3), and, struck through, "Mr. Pater guided the parachutist Frank, who lodged during a fortnight with E. van Barneveld, Maanderdyk 32, Ede, from there to E. van Donkersgoed, Zeumeren, Voorthuizen, on Nov. 23rd." (his form, p. 2).
• ✓ Van Barneveld. E. van Barneveld's own table has "Frank NAUGHT, Easthill Place, KILMARNOCK, Ayrshire, Scotland | R.A.F. | End Nov 44, EDE | End Nov / begin. Dec 44, 14 days | - | N.B.S., PUTTEN" (his table, p. 6; image-checked); the Americans' summary has "Housed 2 flyers for a short time" (p. 2).
• ✓ Engelaan. Jacob Engelaan's table has "Frank W. Naught ) 18 Minster Drive ) Thurmanstone ) Nn. Leicester" hidden "at E. van Barneveld, Maanderdijk, EDE", under a block of Bennekom names sheltered by Jochems and Steenbergen (his table, p. 6; image-checked).
• ✓ Van Donkersgoed. Elbert van Donkersgoed's table has "F.Mc. Nought | 1e Airb. Div. | | | end of Nov. | 4 | by himself | Frans Hals" (his table, p. 3, read on the image); ◐ "Frans Hals" was Dick Kragt's alias (Dick Kragt).

◐ Pater's fortnight from 9 November does not fit the report, which has him in the haystack at Kootwijkerbroek until 17 November and at Ede only three days, 23 to 26 November; nor does Van Barneveld's fortnight from the end of November. ◐ Van Donkersgoed's "end of Nov.", the man arriving "by himself" and passed to Kragt, fits the report's lone walk north from 26 November; ⚠︎ the report has three days at one farm, 23 to 26 November, then six days' travel with lodging on only two nights, so four days at one house is not reconciled with it. Whether the farm of 23 to 26 November was Van Barneveld's the report does not say; its map reference is about 3 km from his address.

Next morning, 2 December, "a girl courier, PUK" took him by bicycle "to my old home with the ESVHEILT's, who welcomed me with open arms" (his report). There he found Pte H. Riley, "Sgt. HALLER, J. … Glider Pilot", De Santis and "Lt. Charlie"; a second compartment had been built in another haystack "to accommodate the 'growing family'" (same).

• Haller. Haller came there after Murphy's party broke up.
  • Walsh's report has Haller "taken to another address in this area" on 2 December (Walsh).
  • Haller told Noordman that after Pegasus II he went back to Heimen van Esveld "en ben daar de hele winter gebleven" (and stayed there the whole winter), and that it was so cold "dat ik samen met Harold Riley en Frank McNaught op nieuwjaarsdag zelfs op een vijver geschaatst heb" (that with Harold Riley and Frank McNaught I even skated on a pond on New Year's Day) (Noordman, p. 271).
  • Heimen's list has Haller and Riley for 84 days each (p. 8).
• The drops. He acted as an armed guard on the dropping zone "during the two 'drops' arranged by DICK" (his report); his citation has him guard "expected "drops", each of which was cancelled at the last moment" (the recommendation, pp. 5–6).
• The end of January. De Santis and Lt Charlie "were moved to another address as the ESVHEILT's were finding it difficult to provide food for such a large number" (his report); De Santis's card has him with McNaught "until DeSantis left with Lt Ramlow about the end of January 45(?)" (the card).
• Jan. "Living in the ESVHEILT house was a member of the Underground called JAN", who told them no more crossings were planned (his report).

At about 14:00 on 8 February Jan told "RILEY, myself and Pte. WALSH … (Report No. IS9/WE/1/295/2386) who had joined us the previous night, to get ready to move", and the three cycled with him to Barneveld, "leaving Sgt. HALLER behind"; Dick and two guides met them at a crossroads (his report). Walsh's report has the same night from his side: after Gerd's birthday on 7 February "I stayed with Pte's. McNAUGHT … and RILEY … who were living at a farm near GERD's place", and from then until 7 March "my story is the same as that narrated by Pte. McNAUGHT (IS9/WEA/1/290/2385)" (Walsh). Gerd is Gerrit van Ee (Noordman, p. 304).

• Doorn. That night they slept in a chicken hut used as an underground arsenal in the woods near Doorn (about 355850), and next evening were taken to "Mrs. LELS, HOOGHLAND, DOORN", "an English lady", where "Pte. GORDON" of the 156th joined them (his report). ◐ Mrs D. G. Lels-Ebeling of "Hooge Zand", Doorn ("an English lady" in his report and "van Engelse afkomst", of English descent, in Noordman, p. 305; her form gives Dutch nationality), had "Pvt. H. Riley one week, Feb '45" and "Pvt. Frank ?" with him (her file, p. 14).
• The Lek. At about 17:30 on 17 February they left Doorn with a girl courier and two underground men, slept at a house by a canal, crossed the Lek by rowing boat next morning, and went on by Groot-Ammers to "the house of a Domine DECKER" at Molenaarsgraaf (same).
• 19 February. In pairs, each with a girl courier, "RILEY and I travelled together, RILEY on the back of my bicycle", to a house in Sliedrecht, where "Lt. BELTON, U.S.A.A.F." and "F/Sgt. RADCIFFE, R.A.F." joined; at 22:30 McNaught went in a canoe with a guide, the other five in a rowing boat, across the Merwede and down a waterway to the Nieuwe Merwede (same).
• The fog. The motor canoes did not come by 04:00, "Later we were told that they had made the attempt but had been forced to turn back on account of fog"; they went back to the same house, and that afternoon he and Riley returned with a courier to Dekker's house at Molenaarsgraaf (same).
• 5 to 7 March. On the evening of 5 March the courier brought them back to Sliedrecht; next day the other four rejoined, and at about 21:30 they set off in one rowing boat with two guides, "arriving at the HAVEN (898510, Sheet 4) at about 0430 hrs on 7 Mar, safe at last" (same). His citation: "until he was escorted to Allied forces at the HAVEN on 7 Mar 45" (the recommendation, p. 6).

✓ Cornelis van Woerkom of Sliedrecht, whose activity ran from 17 February 1945, has "Frank Mc Naught Par. Div., 19-21/2/'45, 2 days" and Harold Riley (his table, image-checked; his first name and dates of activity, 17 February to 3 April 1945, on p. 2, a typed letter of 2 May 1946, read on the image; p. 1 is the folder cover). ◐ Mrs Van Woerkom remembered for Noordman: "De para’s McNaught and Riley bleven tot woensdag bij ons" (The paras McNaught and Riley stayed with us until Wednesday), ◐ 21 February, the Wednesday after the Monday of 19 February, after which the crossing was put off "vanwege de maanstand" (because of the moon) (Noordman, p. 306). So the house of 19 February was ◐ the Van Woerkoms'. ◐ One day does not fit: McNaught's report has him and Riley leave that house for Molenaarsgraaf "At about 1700 hrs that afternoon" after the fog, which is 20 February, not the Wednesday, and the text Noordman prints as Walsh's has them go back "later"; nothing held explains the difference.

Many other papers of the Sliedrecht line name him, most without a date:

• ✓ Volker-van Leeuwen. Heine Volker-van Leeuwen of Sliedrecht has "Frank Mc.Naught" and "Harold Riley", "with Jan Visser", at "19/2/45", received from "Ds. Dekker" (by ditto marks, as every row from Davis down; "Dr. Ingelse" is on the Kessel and Warrack rows only) and passed on to "C. v. Woerkom" (her table, p. 6; image-checked).
• ✓ G. H. van Leeuwen. G. H. van Leeuwen of Sliedrecht, whose address known to the Allied men was "Dr. Ingelse, Bleskensgraaf A 61", wrote "Looked after Pilots in Bleskensgraaf", with a list in the margin beside it: "Frank Mc Naught, Harald Riley" and two more first names (his form, p. 3); his table has "17/2/45 6 pilots (cross on 19/2/45 succeeded)" (p. 4; both image-checked). See below for the disagreement.
• ✓ Ingelse. Petrus Ingelse of Bleskensgraaf, whose home "was one of the transit centres of the I.S.9 water evacuations of the Sliedrecht area", lists "Frank M. NAUGHT R.A.F." with Haller, Riley and "S.WALSH R.A.F." (his summary, p. 14, image-checked).
• ✓ Niemantsverdriet. Mar Niemantsverdriet of Vlaardingen, born there on 28 March 1920, whose address known to the Allied men was "A 61, Bleskensgraaf", named Dr P. Ingelse, De Kluyver, Ds. Dekker, the van Leeuwens, Visser and Van Woerkom as helpers he knew on 4 November 1945, and his remarks read "Acted as a guide a few times looked after the food for pilots" (his form, p. 2); the Americans' summary lists the last two men he helped as "Frank M. Naught, RAF" and "Harold Riley, RAF" (p. 5; both image-checked).
• ✓ Van der Ley. The Americans' recommendation for Ivan Johannes van der Ley of Dordrecht names "F. McNAUGHT (Kilmarnock Ayrshire)" among the evaders he helped over the water from Molenaarsgraaf to Sliedrecht (his file, p. 13).
• ✓ Jan Visser. Jan Visser of Sliedrecht, who "acted as a guide from Molenaarsgraaf to Sliedrecht" by bicycle, lists "F.M.NAUGHT", Paratr., with H. Riley, W. Gordon and James Branford (his file, p. 15).
• ✓ The roster from "Dick Kay". Klaas Heijboer of Groot-Ammers has "F.M.NAUGHT, N.C.O. Paratr." (p. 30), and Pieter Visser of Sliedrecht "F.M. Naught" received from Heijboer (p. 29).
  • The same names, in much the same order, received from "Dick Kay S.A.S." (◐ Kragt) and passed to "P. Visser Sliedrecht", are on the tables of Dirk L. van der Brugge ("F.M. NAUGHT 11th Batt. Rgt", p. 12), Klaas de With (p. 8), Jan Jacobus de Heer (p. 12), Cornelia de Heer-de Bruin (p. 13) and Marrigje Dogterom of Groot-Ammers (p. 3), all checked on the images by their transcribers.
  • ◐ Kars van Duuren's and Gerrit Hakkesteegt's lists have the name too, read from OCR only (Van Duuren, p. 22; Hakkesteegt, p. 11).

He was posted to the 2nd Parachute Battalion after survivor's leave and transferred to the Royal Engineers on 31 May 1945 (his page). His escape report, dated 8 March 1945, is WO 208/5421/21, and his MI9 report with its appendices A and C, IS9/WEA/1/290/2385, is WO 208/3352/2385; neither is digitised, and neither is held here except as the Pegasus Archive's transcription (the catalogue entries; the IS9 list).

The D.M.I. at the War Office put him up for a mention in despatches "from the escape angle" on 10 June 1945, as "3131378 Pte. McNAUGHT, Frank / 11 Para Bn., 4 Bde. 1 Airborne Div.", on the same minute as James Hardy's Military Medal (the recommendation, p. 2; the minute's words, "from the escape angle", are on the same sheet in Hardy's file, p. 1). It was gazetted on 20 September 1945, under the Corps of Royal Engineers, as "3131378 Spr. F. MCNAUGHT." (London Gazette, p. 4685). The citation on his Pegasus Archive page is the one in the file, with the dates written out.

Nothing held records his life after the war.

• His corps in the Gazette. A sapper of the Royal Engineers in the Gazette; a private of the 11th Parachute Battalion, same number, in his report and the recommendation (the Gazette; the recommendation). ◐ His transfer to the Royal Engineers on 31 May 1945 explains it (his page).
• His platoon. The Pegasus Archive's own page has the Medium Machine Gun Platoon, Support Company; its note on Walsh's report has "Mortar Platoon, 11th Parachute Battalion" (his page; Walsh). His report has "a Machine Gunner in the 11 Para bn".
• His home. Thurmaston, 18 Winster (or Winste, Minster, Winter) Drive, near Leicester, on his report and on van Doesburg's, Van Kerkwijk's and Engelaan's ("Thurmanstone") papers; Hollebrands's has the street and Leicester only ("18 Winsterdrive - Leicester - Engl."); "Easthill Place, KILMARNOCK, Ayrshire, Scotland" on E. van Barneveld's table (p. 6); "(Kilmarnock Ayrshire)" on Van der Ley's (p. 13); "Etelly [?] Scotland" on Van Harn's (p. 3). ◐ Thurmaston is his own; nothing held explains Kilmarnock.
• His service. "R.A.F." on Pater's, Van Kerkwijk's, Van Barneveld's and Ingelse's papers, Dogterom's table ("F.M. Naught [?], R.A.F.", p. 3) and the Americans' summary for Niemantsverdriet (Pater, p. 3; Niemantsverdriet, p. 5); he was a paratrooper.
• Ede in November. Pater: with Van Barneveld from 9 November for 14 days, then guided to Van Donkersgoed on 23 November. Van Barneveld: end of November to early December, 14 days, passed to the N.B.S. at Putten. Van Donkersgoed: end of November, 4 days. His report: at Kootwijkerbroek to 17 November, in the woods to 23 November, three days at an unnamed farm near Ede, then six days' walk to Barneveld (above; ◐ not reconciled).
• The date he came down. Pater's table has "Sept.17", Rhenen (p. 3); his report and Van Kerkwijk's list have 18 September.
• The Americans' weeks at the Veldhoven farm. Merz's account and McNaught's report differ ◐ and are not reconciled.
  • Merz's own words, on the same Waddy page, have him and the co-pilot stay at the farm three weeks until German troops were billeted there, then three days at an asylum at Remmerstein, back at the farm, then to a cemetery at Bennekom for six days before Pegasus I (the page quotes only the caption; Waddy, page 185 of the viewer).
  • McNaught's report has the two officers in the cellar and in the haystack hide with him on 12 October and leaving the farm by bicycle about 20 October, and mentions no asylum or cemetery (his report).
  • Van Doesburg's file has the co-pilot, Merz and George Sylkes "taken by van DOESBURG and van VELDHOVEN to BENNEKOM on 18 Oct.", two days before the report's about 20 October (van Doesburg, p. 5).
• The co-pilot's name. "Lt. WOOD" in his report; "2/Lt. Ernest W. Haagensen" in the Pegasus Archive's note; "Ernest W. HAAGENSON, 2/Lt." on van Doesburg's file; "Lt William Haagensen" in Waddy's caption (his report; van Doesburg, p. 5; Waddy, page 185 of the viewer).
• Gordon at Doorn. His report has Pte Gordon join them at Mrs Lels's at Doorn and travel with them; Gordon's own report has him at Beer's garage at Amerongen "until 19 Feb", then taken to Sliedrecht on the afternoon of 19 February, that night at the Domine's at Molenaarsgraaf (when McNaught's report has the six in the boat from Sliedrecht) and Van der Wiel's at Sliedrecht from 20 February (Gordon). Not reconciled.
• The six of 19 February. G. H. van Leeuwen's table has "17/2/45 6 pilots (cross on 19/2/45 succeeded)" (p. 4). McNaught's party was six, and by his report its attempt that night was turned back in the fog. ◐ Either the table means this party and has the outcome wrong, or it means another six.
  • The text Noordman prints as Walsh's has the fog too; Walsh's own report says only "our unsuccessful attempt to cross on 19 Feb" (Walsh).
  • Gordon's report has no attempt at all, only the afternoon of 19 February in Sliedrecht and that night at the Domine's at Molenaarsgraaf (Gordon).
• Walsh's account in Noordman. Noordman prints the February journey as Walsh's own telling (pp. 304–306), and does not say where it came from.
  • ◐ From 7 February it follows McNaught's report almost sentence by sentence, including "Riley zat bij mij op de bagagedrager" (Riley sat on my carrier), which in McNaught's report is McNaught's own bicycle, and "Ik kwam in een kano bij een van de gidsen" (I went in a canoe with one of the guides), McNaught's canoe (same).
  • Walsh's report says his story from then on "is the same as that narrated by Pte. McNAUGHT", except his weeks at Van der Wiel's in Sliedrecht, which Noordman's text has too (Walsh).
  • ◐ So the passage is very probably McNaught's report put into Walsh's voice, with Walsh's one difference added.

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