Pte Jack Lynch

1914 – ?

Pte John Patrick LYNCH (3768707), "A" Company, 156 Para Bn (H. van Remmerden's statement, p. 2; his MI9 report entry)

About: A private of 156 Para Bn, Murphy's battalion, who escaped with William Prince from the St Antonius hospital in Utrecht on 6 October 1944, the day Murphy got out of Apeldoorn, and was hidden at Utrecht, Langbroek, Wijk bij Duurstede and Amerongen. Taken after the failed Pegasus II crossing, he jumped from the prisoner train with Prince on 23 November and hid at Assel, Laren and Hilversum until he reached the Canadians in April 1945.

Unit or role: Private, 3768707, "A" Company, 156 Parachute Battalion, by H. van Remmerden's statement (his file, p. 2); "Private, 3768707, 156 Battalion, Parachute Regimanet [sic] 1 Airbourne Division [sic]" at Kew (WO 208/5419/40).

Where: 56 Stanley Street, Fairfield, Liverpool 7, by J. H. Alberts of Langbroek (his letter of 1 March 1946, p. 5), ten Wolde (p. 3) and Paula Dussenbroek (p. 7); "56 Stanley, St. Tierfield, Liverpool 7" in Maljers's statement (p. 18).

Evidence: ✓ Prince's report, which names him throughout, as the Pegasus Archive prints it; ✓ Noordman, pp. 190–191, 235–239, 248; ✓ the Kew catalogue entries (WO 208/5419/40; WO 208/3327/3005); ✓ Sgt Shell's escape report, pp. 4–5, 9–10; the Dutch helpers' forms: Dussenbroek, ten Wolde, Joor, Jonkers, Schaeffer, Dove Jan, de Jong, de Vries, Dekkers of Voorthuizen; ◐ van Haeften's table, p. 25.

With S/Sgt William Prince, whose page has their escape together from his side.

His MI9 report entry at Kew gives him as "John Partick [sic] Lynch", born 25 October 1914, "Place captured: Oosterbeck, Holland, 21 September 1944" (WO 208/5419/40); a WO 423 index entry with the same service number has 7 May 1914 (below). The Dutch forms say a little more:

• Dove Jan has him as "Jack Lynx ex. sergt. / Liverpool (boxer)" (his form, p. 4). ◐ Nothing else held makes him a sergeant; his Kew entry and van Remmerden have him a private.
• J. H. Alberts has him "Also parachutist, had landed 17 September 1944 near Ede" (his letter, p. 5); ten Wolde and Joor have him landed with Prince near Ede on 17 September (ten Wolde, p. 3; Joor, p. 3); G. van Vlaanderen of Hilversum has "Sept. 44 Arnhem" (his form, p. 3).
• He was wounded: Paula Dussenbroek has the two men brought to her on 6 October "Both were wounded" (p. 7), and K. J. Kerseboom of Huizen has him and Prince "wounded and taken prisoner. Escaped twice." (his form, p. 3). No source held says where he was hit or how.

The escape, 6 October 1944. He got out of the St Antonius hospital with Prince and the American Sgt Robert E. Shell, the first three freed by A. M. "Ad" Stuy's group. Prince's report: "Sgt. SHELL, U.S. Army Medical Corps and Pte. LYNCH (S/P.G.(H) 3005) escaped with me. They went off together." (the Pegasus Archive). Stuy's report has "The first day three men were liberated", two of them to a Miss Dussenbroek (p. 8), and his form names "Bill PRINCE, Robert SHELL, Jack LYNCH" first among the men he freed (p. 3). ✓ He and Shell were the two lodged with Miss Dussenbroek in Utrecht: her own form and Shell's report name them, and de Geer's report has two unnamed men go to her (below; Prince's page).

To Doorn and Langbroek. H. van Remmerden, "George", took the three to Doorn for a night with "Jaap van Dijk, Dorpsstraat 22", and on with "Dirk", Maljers, by Langbroek to the crossing at Tiel, which failed; they stayed at a farm at Langbroek and later went with four others to the Veluwe for "the unsuccessful crossing at Renkum" (his file, p. 2). Prince's report: "On 17 Oct, I joined up with LYNCH and SHELL and we proceeded to DOORN by bicycle", then a schoolmaster at Neerlangbroek "for about five days", then "From NEERLANGBROEK, LYNCH and I went back to UTRECHT, where we stayed about five or six days" (the Pegasus Archive). Noordman's Dutch of Prince's account adds three days at Overlangbroek before Neerlangbroek, names the schoolmaster as Kees ten Wolde and the Doorn host as the burgomaster, Van den Bosch (Noordman, p. 236).

Wijk bij Duurstede and Amerongen. Prince's report goes on: "From UTRECHT, we went to WIJK BIJ-DUURSTEDE (18 km S.E. UTRECHT) by bicycle and remained three days (name of family unknown) before we proceeded to AMERONGEN", where they stayed "until 17 Nov" (same). The courier "Jetty", Mrs H. J. Cramer-Cornelis of Wijk bij Duurstede, had "Jack LYNCH and Bill PRINCE" from 31 October to 3 November 1944, from Ru van den Brink of Utrecht (her file, p. 10; the entry is struck through on the form, as in many of these files), and J. H. Alberts of Langbroek brought the two by bicycle from her to C. Cornelisse in the Rijnstraat, Amerongen (his letter, p. 5), the house where Chris Cornelisse later hid Porter and Schjelderup. ⚠︎ Maljers's note of 3 July 1945 gives other houses: "Jack and Bill "dived" also at Kramer's Markt 2 Wijk bij Duurstede", and "Afterwards Jack and Bill went with Dirk to Hoogland in Amerongen, who later on took care of them" (p. 13; Hoogland family; below).

• Sgt Robert E. Shell, the American, gave the escape in his own words at his interview of 7 November 1944 (escape report 2675, pp. 4–5, checked on the image). He lists "S/Sgt (BILL) PRINCE, Pte (JACK) LYNCH" among those who wanted out.
  • First attempt: he and Capt Buck went back to the ward "leaving PRINCE and LYNCH down there trying to get the door open. They came up to us later saying they had succeeded"; the tunnel they then followed was a dead end.
  • Second attempt: Buck stayed with newly arrived wounded and Cpl Jackson withdrew, so "LYNCH and PRINCE agreed to make the escape attempt" with him. They left the ward about 1700 to 1730 and reached the garage about ten minutes late.
  • ◐ Shell's typed report has the electrician's plan on "On 5 Nov 44". The escape was 6 October and Shell was back in British lines on 6 November, so the month is very probably a slip. Shell has 7 sets of overalls smuggled in, where Prince's report has civilian clothes for eight men.
• Jhr. B.J.L. de Geer's report of 28 July 1945, in the Dussenbroek file, has the first three freed at 17.00 on 6 October (p. 2):
  • He took one man to his brother-in-law Baron van Dedem, and Stuy and A. J. Olij took the other two on their bikes to "Miss P. Dussenbroek, Sweelinckstraat 30".
  • ✓ Those two are Shell and Lynch (Shell's report, below); the one at van Dedem's is Prince.
  • De Geer adds that "Miss Dussenbroek could not hold her tongue and asked much money and much food" and that all three had to leave in a hurry (p. 3).

• Paula Dussenbroek's own forms and letter:

  • Her form of 28 August 1945 has the two of them, checked on the image (p. 7):

    The 6th of Oct. 44 2 parachutists were brought here by K.P.ers. Both were wounded and stayed till the 18th of Oct. They were: R. Shell, Oklahama U.S.A. and Jack C. Lynch, 56 Stanleystr. Fairfield Liverpool 7 Engl.

    — Paula Dussenbroek, Utrecht · helper's questionnaire · 28 August 1945 · p. 7

  • A second form of hers has "6-14 Oct 44", 8 days, received from "Mr A. Stuy and A. Hagopian" (p. 6); ⚠︎ 14 or 18 October is not settled, though Shell has the two of them still at her house until 17 October (below).

  • Her letter of 20 December 1945 to the Americans, a copy of which was misfiled in the Ebbens-Smit file, names "John Patrick LYNCH" and Shell and says the boys were hidden in a cave dug under the floor (the letter, p. 10, read on the image).
  • The Americans' note on her other form says she was "most uncautious" in boasting of sheltering pilots, and that "She did not betray the pilots" (p. 5).
  • Shell has "LYNCH and I" taken to Miss Dussenbroek's on 6 October and kept there until 17 October, hidden under the floor during the searches, and then, with Prince brought down to join them, taken to Doorn (escape report 2675, pp. 9–10, appendix C).
  • A. J. Olij of Utrecht (Trouw), whom de Geer names among those waiting at the gate with bicycles, lists "John Patrick Lynch, parachutist (Eng)" and "Bobby Shell", from the "St. Anthoniusziekenhuis" to "Mej. Dussenbroek, Swelinckstraat 30"; his table has "(8-10-44)" handwritten in brackets in the date column, ⚠︎ two days after the escape (Olij's table, p. 3; his questionnaire, p. 4).
  • ◐ Alexander Hagopian of Utrecht, who organised the escape with the hospital electrician, lists "Bobby Shell USA and Jack Qubak, RAF" at Miss Dussenbroek's and never names Lynch (his list, p. 9). "Jack Qubak" is very probably Lynch misspelt: same house, same first name, and no other second man.
  • ◐ Johannes van Gemert of Utrecht, who furnished his own overalls to nine paratroopers, "was their guide while going under the floors, and made false keys to open the locked doors with.", has "Jack Lurch", British, in section 13 beside Shell, Prince and six others, each "neergeschoten 7 Sept. '44, Arnhem" by ditto marks, with no hiding dates, days or helpers (p. 2; p. 3). Probably Lynch; the typed surname is not his.
  • ⚠︎ A typed report filed with Maria Stuy's form, unsigned, has van Gemert take "three men: William M. Moore, William Prince and Jack Lurch" to the cellar "In the evening of I8 October I944", six more on 26 October, among them "R.E.Shell", and all nine to Doorn "In the second week of November I944" (p. 5, checked on the image). Its date, its first three and its second group disagree with Shell's report of November 1944 and every other account, which have Lynch out with Shell and Prince on 6 October and at Doorn on 17 October (below).
  • G. J. Dekkers, the hospital electrician, remembered "Bill Prince, Morrell, Caine (from London or Liverpool), the Dutchman Jansen from Hilversum, Bob Shell, Sgt. Moore" among the nine, and dates his first help "the 28th of Oct. 44" (his file, p. 7, checked on the image). He does not name Lynch.
  • S. J. F. Scholten-de Bruin, Oude Gracht 230a, Utrecht, a cousin of Ru van den Brink of Utrecht:
  • She wrote on 27 April 1946 that two paratroopers wounded at Arnhem and evaded from the hospital came to her from van den Brink: "I housed them for 5 days. Then again turned them over to R.v.d. Brink" (p. 2).
  • Her section 13 has "W. Prince" and "J.P. Lynch, paratr." from "26/10" [1944], 5 days (p. 3).
  • ✓ That is the Utrecht stop between ten Wolde's and Mrs Cramer-Cornelis's, Prince's "about five or six days" back in Utrecht. ⚠︎ Shell has them leaving Langbroek only on 28 October, two days after her 26 October (below).

Three Langbroek helpers list Lynch, Prince and Shell together on their questionnaires; the same forms are on Prince's page.

• Kees ten Wolde, the schoolmaster, B 13, Langbroek (born Bergen op Zoom, 22 September 1910), by his form for the Americans (p. 3):
  • Line 2, "Jack Lynch, 56 Stanley Street, Fairfield, Liverpool 7, England", with no dates of his own; the "1 en 2. geland bij Ede (Gld) op 17 Sept. 1944" in the shot-down column of Prince's line above covers both lines. ◐ The hidden entry, "October 1944, meer dan 2 weken", stands on Prince's line alone; that it covers Lynch too is our reading.
  • ◐ Prince's line has the received-from and passed-on entries, which we read as covering Lynch too: received from "Adriaan Maljers (Dirk van Langbroek) te Amerongen" and passed on to "Ruth van den Brink (Ru), Homeruslaan - Utrecht". Line 3, Robert E. Shell, Ardmore, Oklahoma, landed near Eindhoven, hidden October 1944 for "3 weken", was passed on to Maljers.
• ten Wolde's English summary, 14 August 1945, has the "3 allied evaders from report No. 00392 lodged during 12 days and nights with him, and one of them still 3 days longer", and they went away "via Dirk (00305)", Maljers (p. 8). ◐ The three are these three: p. 3 is the only list of three in his form.
• Jan Hendrik Joor, Doornscheweg 196a, Langbroek, born Kampen, 11 October 1903, a police sergeant who ran the transport of hidden Allied men with Maljers, covering it with his uniform, by his form of 15 April 1946 (p. 4). His section 13 has "Jack Lynch, 56 Stanley St. Fairfield, Liverpool 7, England" on ditto marks under Prince: landed 17-9-44 at Ede, hidden from "19-10-44" for 2 days, received from "F.N. v. Dijk, Dorpsstr. 22, Doorn (shot)", passed on to "A. Jonkers, Brink 211, Langbroek" (p. 3).
• ◐ "F.N. v. Dijk" is van Remmerden's "Jaap van Dijk, Dorpsstraat 22": same address, and both say he was shot.
• Arie Jonkers, Brink 211, Neerlangbroek, by his form of 14 August 1945: "From 19 Oct. till 21 Oct. 44 3 evaders lodged with Mr. Jonkers", who "were brought by Dirk and also taken away, to the schoolmaster at Overlangbroek"; the three are "W. Prince (Bill)", "J. Lynch (Jack). 56 Stanley street Fairfiel Liverpool 7, Engl." and "R. Shell (Rob)" (p. 2, checked on the image).
  • ✓ This is the house Joor passes them to, with the same dates.
  • ◐ It is the form Cramer's "see Jonkers No. 00392" points to: Cramer names Jonkers, and the number 00392 is on ten Wolde's summary and Mrs Cramer-Cornelis's form, not on Jonkers's.
• N. J. C. Cramer, "Bob van Wijk", Markt 2, Wijk bij Duurstede, born Amsterdam 30 March 1914, of the L.O., K.P. and B.S. at Wijk bij Duurstede and Driebergen, by his form of 5 September 1945 (p. 5):
  • "Once in the end of October '44 there came 2 evaders to Mr. Cramer. They stayed 2 days and nights." They came "by way of Dirk (60305) from Utrecht and went from Cramer again with Dirk to Amerongen".
  • The two were "J. LYNCH+and Robert SHELL, see Jonkers No. 00392". ◐ The same report number as ten Wolde's three, and his "Dirk (00305)" is very likely the same number, so this is Lynch, with Shell, at the end of October on his way to Amerongen with Maljers. ⚠︎ What the "+" after Lynch means is not said, and Prince's report has Prince, not Shell, with Lynch at Wijk bij Duurstede.

He is not known to have met Murphy, but his path ran beside Murphy's: both were of 156 Para Bn, both got out of German hands on 6 October 1944, Adriaan Maljers guided both, and both were hidden at Amerongen, over a month apart: Lynch until 17 November 1944, Murphy from 23 December 1944 to early January 1945 (Murphy's side is on his page and Amerongen). Dove Jan of Kootwijk, who had hidden Murphy and Sam Walsh for six days in October after their escape from the Apeldoorn hospital in the Willem III barracks (Kootwijk: Dove Jan), had Lynch and Prince after the train, 42 days by his form, which cannot fit the month between the train and Laren (below); his list for the Americans has "Murphy Kelly Schotland / and a friend of his" (◐ Murphy, with Walsh as the friend on Noordman's and Dove Jan's page's reading, not the form's) and, two lines below, "Jack Lynx" (his form, p. 4).

Pegasus II, 17–18 November 1944. He marched in the Pegasus II column that Murphy's party, coming from Harskamp, missed (Operation Pegasus II). Van Remmerden has the three hospital men go on from Langbroek "together with 4 others, to the Veluwe, and then to a blacksmith in Walderveen for the unsuccessful crossing at Renkum" (his file, p. 2). Prince's report, which has Lynch beside him before and after, tells the night:

About eighty Allied personnel were assembled. We all received new British uniforms and with the help of Dutch guides, also in British uniform and under the command of Col. WARRACK , A.D.M.S. and Major McQUIRE, second in command, we proceeded altogether to a place in the woods where we hid up for the next day, 18 Nov.

— S/Sgt W. Prince · his report, "2. ATTEMPTED ESCAPE" · the Pegasus Archive

• The road. At the main Ede–Arnhem road a sentry "opened up with a sub machine gun and the party dispersed. Major McQUIRE, about nine other men and I, carried on in an attempt to find the river"; they hid in a wood, and "About mid-day we were found by German soldiers and taken to a transit P.O.W. camp at AMERSFOORT" (same). Prince does not say whether Lynch was in that group.

• Caught. Noordman names the two paratroopers who later jumped from the train with the Canadians:

  Further research showed that the two paras were Jack Lynch and William Prince, both of the 156th Parachute Battalion, and the American airman and gunner Werner Braun. They too had been arrested by the Germans on the failed crossing on 18 November.

  Dutch originalUit nader onderzoek is gebleken dat de twee para’s Jack Lynch en William Prince waren, beiden van het 156e parabataljon en de Amerikaanse vlieger en schutter Werner Braun. Ook zij waren bij de mislukte crossing op 18 november gearresteerd door de Duitsers.

  — Wolter Noordman · Schuilplaats de Veluwe (2019), p. 191 · the text

• ⚠︎ Prince's report dates the march to the evening of 18 November, after a day hidden on the 18th; Ede's war history has the column leave for the Wekeromse Zand at three in the morning of the 17th and march on at five that afternoon (Ede manuscript, p. 45; p. 46). The same one-day disagreement runs through Murphy's party's accounts (Still open, item 16).

Prince's report has three days at Amersfoort, then:

On the morning of 23 Nov LYNCH, three others (names unknown) and I, escaped from a train whilst in motion. We landed and made our way to a farm (address unknown) near APELDOORN.

— S/Sgt W. Prince · his report, "3. ESCAPE" · the Pegasus Archive

Lynch's MI9 report entry has "Escaped or Liberated: Train to Germany, 23 November 1944" (WO 208/5419/40), and his other Kew entry "Escaped from train en route from Netherlands to Germany, and contacted Allied Forces at Apeldoorn, Netherlands" (WO 208/3327/3005).

The Canadian airman Robert Gelfand, one of the five, in his account in Noordman, has forty men in a goods wagon bound for Nuremberg, filing through the bars of its one window with a file from their escape kit, and "Omstreeks twee uur in de nacht zijn we met zijn vijven uit de trein gesprongen. Het waren twee paratroepers, een Amerikaan, McElroy en ik." (About two in the morning the five of us jumped from the train. They were two paratroopers, an American, McElroy and I.), near Radio Kootwijk (Noordman, p. 190). Noordman names the two paratroopers as Lynch and Prince (p. 191).

• After the train he was at Assel: Maria Westerwoudt gave "Jack Lynch, 1st Airborne Div" fourteen days (her file, p. 5; Maria Westerwoudt); her own table has "Jack Lynch sold. Liverpool", "Nov. '44", 14 days, passed to "van Oldenbarneveld" (p. 3).
• ✓ Dr August Schaeffer Edler von Wienwald of Assel 6, "Gus", of the RVV, who housed men "in cooperation with Mrs. M.J.H. Westerwoudt", listed "Sgt. W. Prince, 156 Reg. Manchester" and "Pte. J. Lynch, 156 Reg. Liverpool", "escaped P.o.W.", hidden from 23.11.1944 for 14 days, received from Arnold van Zelst of Assel and passed on to "J.C. v. Oldenbarneveld, Kootwyk 2", with Braun, Gelfand and McElroy on the lines above (his form, p. 2; his list, p. 5, 18 January 1946).
• Maria Westerwoudt's daughter, then fourteen, remembered five men at the door one early morning at the end of November, McElroy, Gelfand, Bill Prince, Jack Lynch and Werner Braun, and of Lynch: "Jack Lynch was erg gespannen en angstig bij de gedachte dat hij bij terugkomst misschien weer de oorlog in moest." (Jack Lynch was very tense and afraid at the thought that on his return he might have to go back to the war.) After about seventeen days her mother found the two paras a new address (Noordman, pp. 237–238).
• Dove Jan, Johan van Oldenbarneveld of Kootwijk, had "Jack Lynx" and "Bill Prince" from "Mrs. Hein Westerwoudt Assel", 42 days in "Nov. Dec.", and passed them "To Laren (Gooi)", "given to the underground where they stayed till liberation" (his form, p. 4). Prince's report has the two at the farm near Apeldoorn until 23 December.
  • ◐ The questionnaire made out for him in July 1945, signed by R. van Ginkel, tells it differently: "2 other English parachutists, jumped out from the train and picked up by v.O. himself." and "2 Other Englishmen went by bicycles of v. O. to O.D. in Laren N.H." (p. 5). These are very probably Lynch and Prince: the only two from the train on his list.

Prince's report goes on from the farm near Apeldoorn:

We stayed there until 23 Dec on which date LYNCH and I went by bicycle with two ladies (names unknown) to a house (address unknown) in LAREN 17 kms S. of DEVENTER where we stayed until 27 Dec. On the evening of 27 Dec we went to another family in LAREN, where we remained until 17 Mar 45.

— S/Sgt W. Prince · his report, "3. ESCAPE" · the Pegasus Archive

On 18 March the two went by bicycle to Hilversum and stayed with a family until 2 April (same). Noordman's Dutch puts this Laren in North Holland and names P. S. de Jong of Raboes 4, Laren, and T. J. de Vries of Lage Naarderweg 39, Hilversum (Noordman, p. 238). ◐ The report's "17 kms S. of DEVENTER" does not fit Laren in the Gooi; the helpers' forms below are all from Laren, Huizen, Blaricum and Hilversum.

• ✓ P. S. de Jong's form of 23 May 1945 has "John Patrick LYNCH, LIVERPOOL" and "John PRINCE, MANCHESTER", 1st Airborne, from 28 December 1944 for "about 80 days", received from "T. LIGTER, St. Jansstraat, LAREN" and passed to the "Resistance of HILVERSUM" (his form, p. 4; checked on the image), so ◐ on de Jong's form the first Laren house was Ligter's; Faber's form claims the same stage (below).
  • ◐ The helper is "T. LIGTER" on de Jong's form and in van Vlaanderen's list ("T. Ligter, St. Jansstr. 38"), "M. Ligter" in Schoemaker's, and "Anton Ligter", St Jansstraat 38, in his own note below: one man at one address with three different initials, probably.
• ✓ Anton Ligter, St Jansstraat 38, Laren, in a note of 18 January 1946 headed Lt M. Kiek: "Provided food, shelter, and Clothing for the following Allied personnel", then a list: John Patrick Lynch, Eng Para, 7 days, and W. Prince on ditto marks (his page, p. 2, checked on the image). Seven days is longer than Prince's 23 to 27 December.
• Mrs D. J. Faber, Berkenlaantje 1, Laren, has "Lynch", RAF [sic], "Dec. 44", "+ 60" days, received from "van Oldenbarnevelt Kootwyk" (Dove Jan) and passed to "de Jong Rahoes 4", with "Prince" on ditto marks and "Blaricum." in his last column (her form, p. 3, checked on the image).
  • She names Ligter, de Jong and Piet Dekker, farmer, Terschuur, as helpers, and remarks that "When the underground transport ed them they lost a ladies bicycle" (p. 2).
  • ⚠︎ Her "+ 60" days cannot be a stay between Dove Jan and de Jong; it may be the whole Laren time, and nothing says why Blaricum is on Prince's line.
• C. Schoemaker, Naardenstraat 23, Laren, by a form of 1 February 1946, lists "J.P. Lynch" and "W. Prince", both "R.A.F.", with no dates or days, names "M. Ligter" as a helper and notes "Food and Dutch money f.700.-" (his form, p. 4; p. 3; checked on the images).
• ◐ K. J. Kerseboom of the Valkeveenschelaan, Huizen (N.H.), by his form of 16 January 1946 (his form, p. 3; p. 4; the postcard, p. 2; checked on the images):
  • He had "Jack Patricks Lunz and Bill Prince, soldiers from Liverpool and Manchester"; ◐ "Lunz" is not Lynch's name, and the identity rests on the first name, Prince beside him and Liverpool, "wounded and taken prisoner. Escaped twice.", and "Sheltered for 14 days".
  • His table has them in "Jan '45", received from "de Jong, Blaricum" "by Herman Truder, Laren", and passed back to "de Jong, Blaricum"; his postcard to the Americans has the fortnight in "Januari 1944".
  • ⚠︎ Prince's report has no break in their time with the second Laren family, and only Kerseboom names a de Jong at Blaricum; Faber's "Blaricum." on Prince's line has no name and may point to the same place.
• ✓ T. J. de Vries, Lage Naarderweg 39, Hilversum, of the Hilversum branch of the underground, by his form of 1 February 1946:
  • His form has Prince hidden "14th March - 3rd April", from the K.P. Communication Service, and below him on ditto marks "John Patrick Lynch Nr. 3768707", the service number on Lynch's Kew report (p. 3; p. 2, checked on the image).
  • He puts the two paratroopers with the family de Jong, "Raboes 8" [sic: 4], Laren, and says they "went with boys from the Underground to Terschuur on the 3-4-1945" and "contacted with the British there in April by Apeldoorn (according to messages by Prince from England)". Noordman's Dutch of Prince's account puts the two "bij T.J. de Vries" from 18 March to 2 April (p. 238); the form itself does not say whose house.
• G. van Vlaanderen, Lage Naarderweg 37a, Hilversum, next door, by a form of 4 January 1946 "Compiled from information received from Ritm. s'Jacob", lists "J.P. Lynch" and "W. Prince", "Airborne Div.", 2 weeks each, and among the helpers he knew Faber, Ligter, de Jong of the Raboes, "Karseboom" of Huizen and de Vries (his form, p. 3; p. 2; checked on the images). ◐ His two weeks may be the Hilversum stay with de Vries next door.

• Zwartebroek. Prince's report: "On 2 Apr, LYNCH and I went to SWARTBROEK (30 kms S.E. of EINDHOVEN) and stayed with a family (name unknown) until 7 Apr.", then a small place they had to leave when "a German quartermaster had commandeered the place for billets", and back to the same family until 13 April (the Pegasus Archive). Noordman's Dutch has Zwartebroek (p. 238). ◐ De Vries's Terschuur on 3 April may be the same stay under the name of the neighbouring village; the place-name atlas has not been checked.
• Davies. On 14 April they met Lt E. Davies, "who told us he was making his way to the front line", and decided to go with him (Prince's report). ◐ Davies himself puts the meeting a day earlier: "Op 13 april ontmoette ik sergeant Prince en soldaat Lynch, beiden van het 156e Bataljon" (on 13 April I met Sergeant Prince and Private Lynch, both of the 156th Battalion) (Noordman, p. 248).
• Losing him at Apeldoorn. On the outskirts of Apeldoorn "we had trouble with the German police and we lost LYNCH"; Prince and Davies looked for him and failed, reached Apeldoorn at 0230 on 15 April and reported to an officer on the morning of 17 April, after the 1st Canadian Army had got across the canal: "We met LYNCH on the way to BRUSSELS." (Prince's report).
  • Lynch is not at the Woltmans', where Prince and Davies spent a night. Jacob Dirk Woltman's form lists thirteen men the family sheltered, including Prince and Davies, and has no Lynch (his form of 31 August 1945; the family's list).
• ◐ Voorthuizen. Two Voorthuizen forms put him there on his own:
  • C. F. van Haeften, American by birth, lists "Jack Lynch, Manchester, paratr." with "April 44": "Found him on the road and took him to P.Dekkers and afterwards to G.van Barneveld-Kooy", and in the next row "2 unknown paratr. April 44 Found them and showed them the way to the British lines" (p. 25, checked on the image).
  • He did K.P. work and later served MIS-X as a special agent (his Medal of Freedom card, p. 6; MIS-X letter of 9 September 1946, p. 3; a Dutch letter on his K.P. work, p. 15; OCR, not checked on the images); nothing held says he ran a K.P. group at Voorthuizen.
  • His memo of his trips has "J. Lynch to P. Dekkers, Stroeerweg 19, Voorthuizen" and from Dekkers "to G. van Barneveld-Kooy", de Hoge Wal (p. 28); an earlier copy of the table ends "J. Lynch, Parachutist, Manchester [...] Refer to letter attached", and his list of names has him as no. 19 (p. 27; p. 31); the letter has not been found in the file.
  • Ir. Pierre M. C. Dekkers, Stroeerweg 19, Voorthuizen, by a form received by mail on 6 June 1946, has "About the 12th of March 1945" a young farmer bring him an escaped parachutist, who was "in civil dress", "stayed for 2 or 3 days" and "After the liberation … departed with the Canadians"; on the back, typed in the order of the form's section 13: Jack Lynch, R.A.F., 12.3.45, 3 days, "came on his own account. Transported by the O.D." (p. 2; p. 3; checked on the images).
  • ✓ The two forms name the same house: van Haeften took Lynch to "P. Dekkers, Stroeerweg 19", and Dekkers of Stroeerweg 19 had "Jack Lynch". ⚠︎ Neither date fits: van Haeften types "April 44", and Dekkers's 12 March 1945 falls in the weeks Prince, de Jong and de Vries have Lynch at Laren and Hilversum; "Manchester" is Prince's town, not Lynch's.
  • ◐ The likeliest time is April 1945, after he was lost near Apeldoorn on 14 or 15 April and before he met Prince again on the road to Brussels, which fits Dekkers's "After the liberation he departed with the Canadians"; no other source puts him at Voorthuizen, and neither says how long he stayed or how he reached the Canadians.

Three catalogue entries at Kew are his; none of the reports is online, and nothing here is read from the reports themselves.

• WO 208/5419/40, dated 19 April 1945: "Name: John Partick [sic] Lynch.", "Date of birth: 25 October 1914.", "Place captured: Oosterbeck, Holland, 21 September 1944.", "Escaped or Liberated: Train to Germany, 23 November 1944.", "Other names mentioned: Sergeant Griffiths."; former reference "I.S.9.(W.E.A.)/1/508/3028" (the entry). Who Sergeant Griffiths was is not known. Prince's report of the same date names a Sergeant Dawson (Prince's page).
• WO 208/3352/3028, the report on him, which "has not survived" (the entry). The entry gives no former reference; its piece number, 3028, matches the end of the former reference of his 5419/40 entry ("I.S.9.(W.E.A.)/1/508/3028"), so ◐ it is very probably the IS9 report on him.
• WO 208/3327/3005, "Private J P Lynch (service number 3768707)": "Escaped from train en route from Netherlands to Germany, and contacted Allied Forces at Apeldoorn, Netherlands." (the entry). ✓ This is the "S/P.G.(H) 3005" Prince's report gives as Lynch's.
• Noordman's list of the escape reports he used has "Lynch, Jack 17-4-1945" (Noordman, p. 340), the day the Canadians crossed at Apeldoorn.

The reports are on the list for Kew (Open questions). When and where he died is not known here.

His birth date. ⚠︎ His MI9 report entry gives "Date of birth: 25 October 1914" (WO 208/5419/40); the WO 423 index entry for "J Lynch", service number 3768707, the same as the report's, gives 7 May 1914 (WO 423/914924). Both are catalogue lines only, and nothing we hold says which is right. The WO 423 record is closed until 1 January 2030.

When and where he came down. Kew: captured at Oosterbeek on 21 September 1944. Alberts, ten Wolde and Joor: landed near Ede on 17 September; van Remmerden has the three hospital men come down "near Arnhem on 18 Sep" (p. 2); van Vlaanderen: "Sept. 44 Arnhem" (all above). Landing on the 17th and capture on the 21st need not conflict.

What he was. A private by Kew, van Remmerden, Shell and Davies; "ex. sergt." and a boxer by Dove Jan; "RAF" by Hagopian, Faber, Schoemaker and Dekkers of Voorthuizen; ◐ probably used loosely for the British (Hagopian calls Prince RAF too).

The date of the escape. ✓ 6 October 1944, by Prince's report and Shell's of November 1944, de Geer's (made with Stuy) and Miss Dussenbroek's. ⚠︎ The typed report filed with Maria Stuy's form has "Jack Lurch" out on 18 October with Moore and Prince, Shell on 26 October and all nine at Doorn in the second week of November (p. 5); Lynch was at Doorn on 17 October and at Langbroek by the 19th by Prince's report, Shell's, Joor's and Jonkers's.

Who hosted the night at Doorn. ⚠︎ Van Remmerden has "Jaap van Dijk, Dorpsstraat 22" and Joor "F.N. v. Dijk, Dorpsstr. 22, Doorn (shot)", the same address (p. 3); Noordman's Dutch of Prince's account has the burgomaster, Van den Bosch (Noordman, p. 236); Shell has "a man known as JAP (Mayor of DOORN …)" (p. 9). ◐ Shell's "JAP" fits both the burgomaster and the first name Jaap, but the sources do not say whether one host or two is meant; Prince's report has "a family (name unknown)" (the Pegasus Archive).

How long he was at Langbroek. ⚠︎ Ten Wolde has the three with him 12 days and nights, one of them 3 days longer (p. 8); Joor has 2 days from 19 October 1944 (p. 3); Prince's report has about five days with the schoolmaster at Neerlangbroek, and Noordman's Dutch of it adds three days at Overlangbroek before (the Pegasus Archive; Noordman, pp. 236–237).

• ◐ Shell's report gives the houses: Lynch and Shell stayed "with a farmer who had a house opposite the school" at Overlangbroek from 18 October, Prince with a Mr Garrett; by 21 October all three were with "a schoolmaster CASE in NEER LANGBROEK", and on 28 October two Dutch marine officers took Prince and Lynch away, Shell leaving on the 30th (escape report 2675, p. 9, checked on the image).
• Jonkers's and Joor's 19 to 21 October is a stay with Jonkers inside those dates, and ten Wolde's "12 days and nights" is close to Shell's 18 to 30 October if he counted the Overlangbroek houses too.
• ⚠︎ Where the schoolmaster lived is itself disputed: Neerlangbroek by Prince's report, Shell and Noordman; "Overlangbroek" by Jonkers and Maljers; B 13, Langbroek on his own form (Prince's page).

The week in Utrecht. ⚠︎ Scholten-de Bruin has Prince and Lynch from "26/10", five days, then back to van den Brink (p. 3); Shell has them still at Langbroek on 28 October, and Mrs Cramer-Cornelis has them from 31 October. Noordman's Dutch of Prince's account, three days at Overlangbroek from 18 October and five at Neerlangbroek, brings him to 26 October too, so it is Shell's 28 October that is two days later; her five days then end on 31 October, the day Mrs Cramer-Cornelis's form begins.

Wijk bij Duurstede and Amerongen. ⚠︎ Three accounts, three routes: Mrs Cramer-Cornelis (Peperstraat 19) with Lynch and Prince, then Alberts to C. Cornelisse, Amerongen; N. J. C. Cramer (Markt 2) with Lynch and Shell, then Maljers to Amerongen; Maljers with Jack and Bill at "Kramer's Markt 2" and then to Hoogland in Amerongen (all above). Prince's report has only "three days" at Wijk bij Duurstede and "AMERONGEN" until 17 November.

Dussenbroek's days. ⚠︎ 6 to 18 October on her form of 28 August 1945 (p. 7), 6 to 14 October on her other form (p. 6), and 6 to 17 October by Shell, who then goes to Doorn; Olij has "(8-10-44)" against Lynch's name. ⚠︎ Her other form has her arrested "on 20 Oct 44, four days after the Canadian and English parachutists had left from my house", which gives 16 October, but those are not Shell and Lynch by nationality (p. 5); that form puts the arrest on 20 October and the one of 28 August 1945 on 22 October (p. 7).

Who brought him to Dove Jan, and how he left. Dove Jan's list and Westerwoudt's have him come from her; the questionnaire of July 1945 has Dove Jan pick the two up himself after the train, and send them to Laren on his own bicycles, where Prince's report has "two ladies" (above).

How long at Assel. Westerwoudt has 14 days in November ("Nov. '44"), Schaeffer 14 days from 23 November; Dove Jan has 42 days in "Nov. Dec."; the daughter's memory in Noordman has about seventeen days; Prince's report has the farm near Apeldoorn from 23 November to 23 December (above).

Laren, Huizen and Hilversum. The first Laren house is 4 or 5 days in Prince's report, 7 for Ligter and 60 in Faber's column; Kerseboom's fortnight in January 1945 at Huizen, from and back to a de Jong of Blaricum, is not in Prince's report, which has them with one Laren family from 27 December to 17 March; de Vries's form has Prince hidden from 14 March, Prince's report from 18 March (above).

Voorthuizen. Van Haeften's "April 44" and Dekkers's 12 March 1945 for the same house, against Prince's, de Jong's and de Vries's Laren and Hilversum for March 1945 (above).

The day they met Davies. 14 April 1945 in Prince's report, 13 April in Davies's own account (Noordman, p. 248).

Everyone, A to Z