Teus Roskamp

Teus Roskamp, in the list of helpers of the American airmen Sidney Willig and Harold Bonekat (E&E report 2976, Appendix C, p. 1)

About: A man the escape report of the American airmen Willig and Bonekat calls a vet, on a farm outside Barneveld, and says sheltered them on 24 November 1944, the night Hardy's report puts four airmen of a Fortress shot down on 21 November in a barn with him and Murphy (men Noordman names as Willig, Bonekat and two others). ⚠︎ He is known from that report alone.

Unit or role: Veterinarian, by the report ("Is veterinarian."); helper of Allied evaders.

Where: A farm "on the outskirts of BARNAVELD, HOLLAND (E5496)", by the report.

Evidence: ⚠︎ One source: the helpers' list in E&E 2976, Appendix C, p. 1 (PDF p. 7), read on the page image. He is not in the I.S.9 list of Willig's helpers in the same file (PDF p. 16). A Teunis Roskam of Stroe, who found hiding places for airmen, is a possible match that the sources do not settle (below).

Willig and Bonekat were the navigator and the bombardier of a B-17 of the 338th Squadron, 96th Bomb Group. On 21 November 1944 "The plane was shot up by flak, and the pilot made a crash-landing at MILLINGEN, HOLLAND (E8564)." (E&E 2976, Appendix C, p. 1, PDF p. 7; Sidney Willig; Harry Bonekat). Their list of helpers opens with "VAN EE, lived near STROE, HOLLAND (Z6101)", a farmer of 40, who "Provided food and shelter 23 Nov 1944." (✗ not Gerrit van Ee of Kootwijkerbroek). Roskamp comes next:

ROSKAMP, TEUS, lived in farm on the outskirts of BARNAVELD, HOLLAND (E5496). 5'11", 170 lbs., 46 yrs. old, black hair. Is veterinarian. … Furnished food and shelter 24 Nov 1944, and money for food to subsequent helpers.

— Lts S. H. Willig and H. W. Bonekat, USAAF · E&E report 2976, Appendix C, p. 1 · the page image

The list goes on with "DICK", head of the underground in the Barneveld area, and his men, and then with an unidentified man in a small house off the road from Stroe to Harskamp, who "Provided shelter and [struck-out word] meals 28 Nov - 2 Dec 1944." (Appendix C, pp. 1–2, PDF pp. 7–8, read on the images; the same list, typed again, is on PDF pp. 2–4).

The same night, by Hardy's report, Hardy and Murphy were taken from the farmhouse at Otterlo to a barn:

That night we were taken by a member of the Dutch Underground (WILLEM's brother) to a barn somewhere in the OTTERLO area, but as it was dark I have little idea where it was. In the barn I met Pte. DAVISON, an R.A.F. Officer, and four U.S. Aircrew, none of whose names I know. I understand that the Americans were members of a Fortress crew and had been shot down on 21 Nov.

— MI9 · Pte J. Hardy, 16 Parachute Field Ambulance · IS9/WEA/1/270/2351 · 13 January 1945 · the report

⚠︎ Noordman, quoting Hardy's account, names the barn as J. van Essen's on the Westerhuisweg at Harskamp, and the four Americans as Bob Blackburn, Sidney H. Willig, Harry Bonekat and Ray Haydel (Noordman, p. 285; J. van Essen); he gives no source for the barn or the names, which are not in Hardy's report.

Willig's report puts the two Americans at Roskamp's farm outside Barneveld on 24 November and names no barn and no British paratroopers. It does not say whether they moved on that evening, so the report and Noordman's barn are not reconciled. The night is told on Pegasus II and Roekel.

The I.S.9 appendix of Willig's interview of 19 April 1945 does not name him. It has five helpers: "VAN EE" of "WOLVERSEVEN. STROE,BARNEVELD", "Kept us for one day. 23 NOV 44.", and next "J. OOSTERBROCK" of Barneveld, "( 2 DEC 44 - 16 DEC 44 )", followed by Van der Munt, Van der Kemp and Vedder (E&E 2976, PDF p. 16, read on the image).

A Teunis Roskam of Stroe, in Barneveld municipality, filled in a helper's questionnaire for the Americans in June 1946. He is not shown to be Willig's Teus (below).

• ✓ His form. Wolweg 42, Stroe, post Barneveld; known to the Allies at Kootwijkerbroek; born at Barneveld on 23 April 1907; military rank "soldier"; married, three children aged 9 to 2; next of kin "Mrs. Roskam-Schouten Wil.", 31; underground movement "BS" (his form, p. 2, checked against the image).
• ✓ His remark, typed in English:

Mr. Teunis Roskam helped his brother, who did inmportant [sic] pilot-work. His task was to find hiding places. Then his brother came with pilots in order to have them escorted by Teunis to the hiding places. Mr. Teunis R. Estimated having escorted in all 8 pilots, perhaps more . His brother was a co-operator of DICK and JOOP PILLER -alias Capt. van Amstel Laaren. and is reputed to have given help to numerous pilots.

— Teunis Roskam's questionnaire, 20 June 1946 · US National Archives, RG 498 · his helper file, p. 2

• The helpers he named (his form, p. 2):
  • the widow of Kees van de Munt, farmer, of the Lange Zuiderweg, Voorthuizen, "3 airmen-6 weeks.";
  • Paul Versteeg, farmer, of the Welgelegenweg, Voorthuizen, "5-airmen- 6 weeks.";
  • Evert Bruinekreeft, shopkeeper, Kootwijkerbroek;
  • ◐ his brother, by our reading (the form does not say which helper is the brother: Johannes Roskam), "Joop Roskamp" (a pencil stroke through the final p), codename "Jan", of the Lunterseweg, De Biezen, between Barneveld and Lunteren.
• ✓ His civil records. Teunis Roskam was born at Barneveld on 23 April 1907, the son of Jan Roskam, a coachman (koetsier), and Jannetje Vink (birth, index, Barneveld births 1907, deed 99). He married Willempje Schouten, 21, at Barneveld on 1 November 1935; he was 28 and gave his trade as chauffeur (marriage, index, deed 84). The birth date and the wife's name are the ones on his form.
• ✓ The Americans' list of Grade 5 awards (the Eisenhower certificate) has both brothers, one after the other: "(3555) ROSKAM, Johannes / Lunterscheweg 110 / Barneveld, The Netherlands" and "(3556) ROSKAM, Teunis / Wolweg 42 / Stroe, The Netherlands" (the list, p. 134, read on the image).
• ✓ The Hague office's summary of Evert Bruinekreeft's file, 22 June 1946, speaks of an investigation "among the helpers, who used to co-operate with Capt. van Amstel (Joop Piller), "Dick" (Frans Hals), Roskam Teunis and Johannes" (Bruinekreeft's file, p. 17).
• ◐ The widow Van de Munt.
  • "Wid. v.d. Munt, Gerritje, L. Zuiderweg 38, Voorthuizen" wrote that "I sheltered 3 USA pilots at the above address from 19 Dec 1944 till 10 Febr. 1945." and named among the helpers "Roskam, Stroe, Gem. Barneveld" (her file, p. 3).
  • Willig's report has "VANDER MUNT, CORNELIUS, LANGEZUIDERWEG 38, VOORTHUIZEN, BARNAVELD", who sheltered him and Bonekat from 19 December 1944 to 9 February 1945 (E&E 2976, Appendix C, p. 2, PDF p. 8; Sidney Willig).
  • So a Roskam of Stroe, very probably Teunis by the address, was among the helpers of the house that hid Willig from 19 December; neither form says what he did for the two Americans.

Johannes has a page of his own: Johannes Roskam.

Willig's list has a second Roskamp, after "DICK":

ROSKAMP, JOHN, BARNAVELD, HOLLAND. 5'11", 155 lbs., 28 yrs. old, blonde hair, unmarried, spoke little English. Used to be a bus-driver. He is "DICK's" right-hand man. … Same as above for "DICK."

— Lts S. H. Willig and H. W. Bonekat, USAAF · E&E report 2976, Appendix C, p. 1 · the page image

"DICK" "Provided new civilian clothing, made arrangements for helpers and food. Furnished tobacco, [struck-out word] transportation, and contacts." (same page; ◐ Dick Kragt, by the report's "Was head of underground in area of BARNAVELD").

• ✓ Johannes Roskam was born at Ede on 15 June 1916 to parents of the same names, Jan Roskam and Jannetje Vink (birth, index, Ede births 1916, deed 394).
  • The civil records agree with Teunis's "his brother" in the parents' names and the father's age (41 in 1916, 32 in 1907), but not in the father's trade: coachman in 1907 and again at Teunis's marriage in 1935, farmer (landbouwer) in 1916.
  • His own questionnaire of 21 June 1946 has Lunterseweg 110, Barneveld, born at Ede on 15 June 1916, married, known to the Allies as "Jan", movement KP, the Knokploeg (his form, p. 5).
• ✓ The Hague office's summary of 22 June 1946 (his file, p. 4):
  • a former Knokploeg man who "had to dive under in September 1944 and found shelter in the farm of Mr. H. van Esveld, Essen" (Heimen van Esveld);
  • his pilot work was done "in co-operation with Joop Piller (Capt. van Amstel), Laaren (Grade I), 'Dick' (Frans Hals), Evert Bruinekreeft";
  • he "was also one [of] the escorters of an important body of paratroopers and pilots who tried to make a collective crossing of the Rhine in autumn 1944", ◐ Pegasus II;
  • "Mr. Roskam was one of the leaders in the escape-work in the Barneveld-area".
• ✓ The British helper index has "ROSKAM, Johannes Lunterscheweg 110, Barneveld", certificate 27179, grade 4 (the index, page R/9).
• ✓ The Resistance Memorial Cross. The 1985 register of its bearers has "Roskam, Johannes 15-06-1916" (the register, p. 198, read on the page image).
• ◐ A Jan Roskam in 1984 (Dekkers and Vroemen, p. 273):
  • A Jan Roskam, "te Den Haag, destijds bij de Veluwse ondergrondse bekend als 'Jan de Hollander' of 'Jan met de rode snor'" (of The Hague, known in the Veluwe underground then as "Jan the Hollander" or "Jan with the red moustache"), told De zwarte herfst that Piller, of the "Frans Hals" organisation "evenals ik" (like me), and Dick Kragt were in touch with England.
  • He went on: "Ik zat toen bij Van Esveld. We hebben verdwaalde para's opgepikt en ondergebracht bij boeren" (I was then at Van Esveld's. We picked up stray paras and lodged them with farmers).
  • ◐ Johannes is probably the man: the name "Jan", Van Esveld's farm, Piller and Kragt all fit his file, and Piller's own list of his helpers names a "Jan Roskam" (Piller's file, p. 18; Joop Piller). The source says only "Jan Roskam te Den Haag". Against: ⚠︎ "de Hollander" may name a man from outside the Veluwe, which is our reading, since no source says what the nickname meant here, and Johannes was born at Ede and lived at Barneveld; where Johannes lived in 1984 we hold nothing.
• ◐ Willig's "John" is probably Johannes.
  • For: "Jan" is his own form's name for him, he was 28 in November 1944, and the Americans' summary makes him one of the leaders with Piller and "Dick", as Willig makes John the right-hand man of "DICK".
  • For: the same summary says practically all the airmen in the files of a list of helpers, which includes the widow's house on the Lange Zuiderweg at Voorthuizen, "passed through Mr. J. Roskam's hands", and Willig was at that house, Lange Zuiderweg 38, from 19 December 1944 (above).
  • For: Gerrit Soel's form of 12 June 1945 lists "Captain Dick, Lieutenant Van AMSTEL, J. ROSKAMP, E. BRUINSCHREEFT", a Roskamp with a p beside Dick, the same circle (Soel's form, p. 3).
  • For, weakly: ◐ a German court form of 1949, recording a fine of 1941, has "Roskamp", "Johannes", born 15 June 1916, "Kraftfahrer" (motor-vehicle driver); that loosely fits Willig's "Used to be a bus-driver" (above); the birth date and parents match Johannes's birth record, but the form was typed in 1949 and says nothing of what he did in 1944 (the form; Johannes Roskam).
  • Against: his own papers give Johannes no trade, while Teunis, the brother, was a chauffeur in 1935. Johannes's marriage by June 1946 (his form) fits either reading, since Willig describes John in 1944 and 1945.

• Teunis Roskam and Willig's Teus. ⚠︎ Not shown to be one man.
  • For, weakly: the surname, which Teunis's own form writes "Roskamp" for his brother before the pencil stroke, though the civil records, the British index and Johannes's own form all lack the p, and Gerrit Soel's form also has "J. ROSKAMP" beside "Captain Dick" (above); the place, loosely, Stroe being in Barneveld municipality, where Willig's farmer Van Ee also lived; the work, Willig's helper giving shelter and money for the next helpers and Teunis finding hiding places for his brother's airmen; and the widow Van de Munt's "Roskam, Stroe" among the helpers of Willig's next long stay (above).
  • Against: Willig has a man of 46 and a veterinarian; Teunis was 37 in November 1944 (birth), a chauffeur when he married in 1935 (marriage) and a "soldier" on his form; and Willig's words are a farm "on the outskirts of BARNAVELD", where Teunis's form gives Wolweg 42, Stroe.
• The vet. Outside Willig's report, no source we hold calls any Roskam a vet. The only vet's trade in the brothers' papers is on Johannes's list of helpers, "H. van Esveld farmer Essem. Veluwe Veeverloskundige." (veeverloskundige, a cattle obstetrician), and the form does not say whether the word belongs to Van Esveld (Johannes Roskam's form, p. 5, read on the image).
• Two Roskamps or one family. Willig's two Roskamps, Teus and John, are not called kin in his report. The brothers Teunis and Johannes are kin by Teunis's form and the civil records; whether Willig's two are those two is the open question above.

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