Willem van Dijk

Ede 8 Jun 1916 – Ede 24 Feb 1970

About: A garage-keeper of Harskamp, "Piet", one of Dick Kragt's trusted men at Harskamp, with Martinus van Beek, his brother-in-law (◐ through Van Dijk's marriage in June 1945, very probably to Van Beek's sister), who moved evaders for the Frans Hals organisation and looked after the men left behind by Pegasus II. ◐ He may be the "Willem" who, with a Dutch policeman, moved Murphy's party from Baron Mackay's estate on 14 November 1944 and fetched it again on the 18th; nothing names him there.

Unit or role: Garage-keeper (garagehouder) and mechanic; the L.O. from 1942 and the Frans Hals organisation (Boeree, p. 199; his file, p. 4). Cover name "Piet" (Boeree, p. 200; his file, p. 4); "Willem" or "Wim" to other helpers (below).

Where: Molenweg 5, Harskamp (his file, p. 2; Van Beek's file, p. 2).

Evidence: ✓ his file, pp. 2–4; ✓ Boeree, Kroniek van Ede, pp. 199–203 (checked on the page images); ✓ the Ede registers (population card, marriage and death); ◐ Ede manuscript, pp. 43–44 (Gemeentearchief Ede 1006/1160); Van Vemde's letter, p. 8; Drok's form; Kroner's form; Edens's form; the Americans' Grade 5 list, entry 1091. His identity as Murphy's "Willem" is ⚠︎ unproved.

✓ Ede's population card has Willem van Dijk born at Ede on 8 June 1916, of the Nederlands Hervormde church, the son of Gijsbert van Dijk and Evertje van Wikselaar, both born at Ede, living at Otterlo from 1916, at Otterlo/Harskamp from 1921 and at Harskamp from 1930 (the card; the index entries). He is this man: Van Beek's form for the Allies gives "W. van Dyk Born: 8-6-1916 Molenweg 5 Harskamp brother-in-law of van Beek" (Van Beek's file, p. 2), the same date, and the marriage below makes him Van Beek's brother-in-law.

✓ Th. A. Boeree's printed chronicle (Frouws, Ede; the Koninklijke Bibliotheek dates it 1947): "Van Dijk, die garagehouder in Harskamp was, had reeds sedert 1942 voor de L.O. gewerkt" (Van Dijk, who was a garage-keeper at Harskamp, had worked for the L.O. since 1942) (p. 199). The unsigned statement in his file (◐ the Frans Hals organisation's) calls him "Chief - Mechanic" (p. 4).

A pilot in 1942 or 1943. He and Van Beek wrote to the Americans in 1946, as "W. van Dijk & M. van Beek, Molenweg 5", both signing, that in the summer of 1942 or 1943 ("dat is ons niet meer precies bekend", they no longer knew exactly) Minderhoud, without knowing it, drove "een amerikaanschen piloot" from Harskamp to Ede in his own car; that "Er was hier een vliegtuig afgeschoten" (a plane had been shot down here, undated) and they got one of the pilots into their hands and "hebben hem toen een paar dagen onderdak gegeven, bij Baron Makay te Harskamp" (gave him some days' shelter with Baron Mackay at Harskamp); and that they took him to Ede in J. J. Minderhoud's car (the letter, p. 6, checked on the image). It is their statement about themselves; Minderhoud's own form tells it otherwise (below). Baron Mackay's estate was where Murphy's party was hidden in November 1944.

Another pilot. ✓ Beert Mons of Harskamp lists "W. van Dijk, Harskamp, Molenweg 5"; he went with his daughter to help a pilot hidden in a field near Harskamp and found "that W. van Dijk had already given his assistance", "confirmed to us later on the day by van Dijk" (Mons's form, p. 2, checked on the image). ⚠︎ The date is unclear (below).

Murphy's side of the Harskamp weeks is told on Kijkuit and Harskamp.

Ede's war history names "Marten van Beek en Willem van Dijk in Harskamp" among the trusted helpers Kragt found on the Veluwe: Van Beek, "Rinus", was in the Arnhem police, and together with Van Dijk, "Piet", he collected weapons left in the battle area after the fighting at Arnhem; "ze deden dat gekleed in politie-uniformen en kregen daardoor van de Ortskommandant in Harskamp alle mogelijke medewerking" (they did it dressed in police uniforms and so got every help from the German town commandant at Harskamp) (Ede manuscript, pp. 43–44). Boeree gives the same pair, "van Beek en van Dijk voor Harskamp en Otterlo", as trusted men of Frans Hals and Joop van Amstel who "zeer verdienstelijk werk hebben gedaan" (did very meritorious work), and their cover names, "Van Dijk en van Beek (alias Piet en Rinus)" (pp. 199–200).

• ✓ What the two did, by Boeree. They put stray pilots at trusted addresses and moved them when a place grew dangerous; collected, in the closed zone and under German eyes, the rifles, sten guns and ammunition left from the drops, helped by Cor Daselaar of Voorthuizen; fetched seven Tommies from Ooilander's farm to Baron Mackay's farm, de Harscamp, later to a hunting lodge in the Otterlo wood and then among the farmers of Westeneng; and fetched men from Tini Kreunen at Otterlo and from Kamphuis (p. 199).
  • ◐ No dates, and the seven are not shown to be Murphy's party: that was six men, taken from Mackay's by ambulance.
  • ◐ Boeree's "Tini Kreunen in Otterlo" is very probably Tine Kroner of Otterlo, below, whose form passes men to "Wim van Dyk"; G. J. Michels writes "Kronen, Otterlo" in his list of helpers (p. 2). No source says so.

James Hardy's MI9 report has the six, Murphy among them, in a hut on Baron Mackay's estate at Harskamp from 7 November, and "at 1830 hours on 14 Nov two members of the Underground arrived. One was called WILLEM and the other was a policeman whose name I do not know"; they took the six to a "'Red Cross' ambulance" about a mile away, which drove them to the Rockelsche Zand (Hardy; Harskamp). After the party missed the Pegasus II column, "At about 1730 hours (18 Nov) WILLEM and the Dutch Policeman whom I had met before, arrived bringing two extra bicycles", led them to a point where "WILLEM said a lorry was to pick us up", and when it did not come took them to the wood where about twenty other evaders were waiting (Hardy; H. van de Brink).

• ◐ A Harskamp man who moved evaders by car, working with a policeman who went about in police uniform, fits Hardy's pair: Van Dijk and Van Beek (Ede manuscript, pp. 43–44; Boeree, p. 200, "Rinus, die evenals altijd brutaalweg in politieuniform was"). The car is in his file's statement, "transporting evaders by car, on bicycle and on foot" (p. 4), and in Van Vemde's "per auto door bemiddeling van Willem van Dijk" (p. 8); the manuscript and Boeree pages cited for the pair do not say they used a car.
• ◐ Pieter Hemmo Edens and Tine Kroner call him "Willem" and "Wim" (below), so the name Hardy heard fits too; Boeree gives only Piet.
• ⚠︎ No source puts Van Dijk at Mackay's on 14 November or at Murphy's party on the 18th, and Boeree does not mention that evening. A fit, not a proof.
• On 24 November Hardy and Murphy were taken to a barn by "a member of the Dutch Underground (WILLEM's brother)" (Hardy). No source gives Van Dijk a brother in the underground.

✓ All the pages below are checked on the page images (Boeree).

• The plan. With Van Beek he was to bring the men from Harskamp and round it to the forester Van de Brink's house at the foot of the Herteberg, and to find 200 eggs, 200 sausages and bandages for the march; "Van Dijk en van Beek (alias Piet en Rinus) waren blij, toen Puck hun het bericht bracht, waardoor een einde werd gemaakt aan het voortdurend verhuizen" (were glad when Puck brought the message, which put an end to the constant moving) (Boeree, p. 200).
• The night. When a German raid on Otterlo threatened the plan, "Piet en Rinus vluchtten naar Cees Veldhuizen aan de Blaakweg te Westeneng", while seven Tommies waited for them, uncared for, in a wood; Piet Schuur fetched the men and delivered them to the two on the way, and "Piet bleef bij de mannen" (Piet stayed with the men) while Rinus, in police uniform as always, went to see where Huisman and the Elburgers were (p. 200). At about ten Rinus brought the men to Frans Hals, too late for the column (p. 201).

His file's statement says he "Gave most useful service before, during, and after the unfortunate PEGASUS II crossing ( looking for the 'remnants' of this crossing)" (p. 4). The other sources tell what that was:

• ✓ Boeree, the Sunday and Monday. Piet and Rinus heard of two men at R. van Ginkel's in Harskamp and took them to Esveld at Essen; their first attempt to reach the men in the wood failed on roads closed by the Germans; on the Monday they rode to the wood on the motorbike, which they left at Van den Brink's, and found the men hungry (p. 202).
  • They counted twelve more who had found shelter, among them "vier in de schuur bij Jurrius" reported by Heiwegen, and told Frans Hals at Kootwijkerbroek that 36 men were left, 24 of whom needed help at once; at H. Esveld's at Kootwijkerbroek they found Eb van Ommeren, who fetched the 24 that evening by horse and wagon to Westeneng, with Piet and Rinus riding ahead to scout the road (p. 202).
  • "De vier man van Heiwegen werden weggehaald, twee gingen naar Rap, twee naar het hol" (Heiwegen's four men were fetched; two went to Rap, two to the hole) (p. 202).
• ✓ Boeree, after 24 November. After the raid on Otterlo and Roekel, the men from Bettink's hiding place lost their way and reached Kamphuis at Wekerom; with bicycles and eight overalls "trok een colonne door Otterlo, voorop Rinus, daarop de 8 Tommies op fietsen, terwijl Piet de stoet sloot" (a column went through Otterlo, Rinus in front, then the 8 Tommies on bicycles, while Piet closed it), and all were lodged with Van Ee at Essen (p. 203). ◐ Hardy and Murphy had left the dug-out on the morning of the 24th, so they were not in this column (Hardy).
• ✓ Van Vemde. J. van Vemde, who kept the dug-out, wrote in May 1946 that about twenty more men hidden "op een zekere plaats in het bosch" were fed for two days and then "per auto door bemiddeling van Willem van Dijk te Harskamp naar verschillende onderkomens vervoerd" (moved by car, through Willem van Dijk of Harskamp, to various shelters); they were under "een captaim Redman (of een dergelijke naam)" (a Captain Redman, or some such name) (his letter, p. 8).
• ✓ Drok. Arrien Drok of Arnhem, evacuated (the form does not say where to), found four men in the woods, a Canadian pilot officer "Christye", a Sgt Moore, American, a Pte Moore, British paratrooper, and a Sgt Buckley, RAF, gave them food, underwear, an overall and shelter, and passed them to "Underground member v. Dyk, Harskamp" (Drok's form, p. 3; p. 2, checked on the image).
  • "On the 20-11-44 I found 4 allied members in the woods these men were helped by us till the 22.11.44"; they told him "they tried in the night from 18-19 Nov. 1944 with 200 men to cross the Rhine", and "We knew van Dyk was a member of the underground and he gave the boys better shelter places".
  • Drok wrote through his friend H. Heiwegen of Otterlo, so ◐ these are very probably Boeree's "vier man van Heiwegen" (above).
  • ◐ His Sgt Buckley, RAF, may be the Kenneth Buckley, R.A.F., who came to Eb van Omme in late November or December; nothing says so.
• ✓ Kroner and Warrack. Tine Kroner of Otterlo, "Tineke", passed "Lt. Cl. Warrack" of the RAMC, "4.11.44", 42 days, to "Wim van Dyk", and "Lt. John Low", USAAF, 14 days [?], "do"; Capt Glover, 23.9.44, 3 days, goes to "Piet van Arnhem" (p. 2; p. 3, checked on the image).
  • ◐ Graeme Warrack, who turned back to Otterlo after Pegasus II, went on through Van Dijk's hands.
  • ⚠︎ Low's own escape report has him at her house from 20 November to 17 December and then taken by a guide from Peter of Arnhem, with no stay at Harskamp (Low's report, p. 9).

• ✓ Pieter Hemmo Edens, a police inspector of Ede, "Hemmo", of the Ede underground, names as the people he worked with "D. Wildeboer (BILL), W. van Dyk (WILLEM), C. van Tyen (CAREOL), M. van Beek, J. Klok", and says that with them he helped several Army men who landed at Arnhem: "we transported them over the Rhine to return them to their own Forces"; he kept no notes "for safety" (p. 2, checked on the image; the archive lists the file as Edens, Berend). ◐ The other nicknames are bracketed the same way, so "Willem" is probably how Edens knew him.
• ✓ Tine Kroner of Otterlo lists "Wim van Dyk Molenweg 5 Harskamp" among the helpers she knew (p. 2). Her remark that details of her work are in report I.S.9/WEA/1/275/2365 is the former reference of Warrack's report at Kew (WO 208/5433/23; Warrack's page).
• ✓ G. J. Michels, a constable of Harskamp, lists "W.van Dijk, garage-keeper, Harskamp", in his Dutch form "W. VAN DYK GARAGE-HOUDER HARSKAMP" (his file, p. 2; p. 4; G. J. Michels).
• ✓ Reinier van den Ham of Harskamp lists "P.H. Edens, Ede. W. van Dijk and M. van Beek both at Harskamp. G. Rap at Harskamp" (p. 3, checked on the image).
• J. J. Minderhoud of Harskamp lists "W. van Dijk at Harskamp. Molenweg 5" and P. H. Edens (p. 2, checked on the image).
• ✓ Joop Piller named him among the helpers who "hebben zich in dezen tijd bijzonder onderscheiden" (especially distinguished themselves at this time), the winter of 1944–45: "Jan Roskam, Eb van Ommeren (overleden), Evert Bruinekreeft, Willem van Dijk en Marinus van Beek" (Piller's statement, p. 18).

When arrested by the S.D. a few months before the liberation he did NOT disclose one word of the organisation's existence, or its work, and after his escape from this prison by means of a hacksaw, which he managed to organise being smuggled into prison baked in a black rye loaf of bread, he put himself at the disposal of the FRANS HALS organisation anew, though he was badly shaken and was suffering from his imprisonment.

— US National Archives · RG 498, helper file of Willem van Dijk, Harskamp · unsigned statement, ◐ of the Frans Hals organisation · the archive's copy

Van Beek's form has the same: "v.Dyk has been arrested by .[x'd out] S.D- ;escaped.", the bracket being our note of a strike-out in the typing (p. 2). Where he was held, and the exact date, are not recorded; the statement above says "a few months before the liberation".

• ✓ Marriage. On 27 June 1945 at Ede he married Lubertha van Beek, 24, born at Ede, the daughter of Jan van Beek and Hilletje Verhoef; he was 29, a mechanic (monteur) (the marriage, index only). Her parents are Martinus van Beek's parents in Ede's birth register (Van Beek's birth), which makes the two brothers-in-law, as Van Beek's form says.
• His file with the Americans. His questionnaire, at Molenweg 5, is dated 8 June 1946 (the year typed "1916" and corrected in ink) and lists "C. Velthuizen Blaakweg 12" and "Rap. Westengedijk" among the helpers he knew; its table says only "He has always helped with transports and has always looked after pilots and paratroops and given them lodgings The number is not known but it is very great about 50" (p. 2; p. 3). The statement in his file is no. 22 of what ◐ appear to be the Frans Hals organisation's numbered reports, unsigned (p. 4; Dick Kragt).
• His grade. On 7 May 1946 I.S.9 (A.B.) listed "van DIJK, Willem. Molenweg 5, Harskamp" among cases it considered Grade 6 (the list); the Americans' list of Grade 5 awards has "(1091) Van DIJK, W. Molenweg 5 Harskamp" (the list, p. 44, checked on the image). The British index to Dutch helpers has "v.DIJK, Willem" at Molenweg 5, certificate 14555, ◐ grade 5 (read from the photographed page) (index; What the British recorded afterwards).
• ✓ Death. He died at Ede on 24 February 1970, a garage-keeper (garagehouder), the son of Gijsbert van Dijk and Evertje van Wikselaar, with Lubertha van Beek named as his wife (the death record, index only).

"Piet" or "Willem". Boeree and the unsigned statement in his file give his cover name as Piet (Boeree, p. 200; his file, p. 4); Edens has "W. van Dyk (WILLEM)" in the place where he gives nicknames, and Kroner "Wim" (Edens; Kroner). Willem is his given name, so both can be right. Whether he was Hardy's "WILLEM" is not settled.

The four men from Drok. ⚠︎ Drok's table and the American officer's letter to Van Dijk of 1 July 1946 have the handover in "April 1944" ("19.4.44" in the table); Drok's box 12 says 20 to 22 November 1944 (p. 2), and his report has the men's own account of the crossing attempt of 18 and 19 November, which fits only that (Drok's form; the letter, p. 5, which asks him to confirm the four men and say what Drok did). ◐ November. Drok's form also has a handwritten "Did not shelter himself". Whether Van Dijk answered is not in the file we hold.

Minderhoud's airman. ⚠︎ Minderhoud says he found the airman in the rye fields and took him to Ede in civilian clothes; Van Dijk and Van Beek say they sheltered him at Baron Mackay's and took him in Minderhoud's car without his knowing, and someone initialling F.B. (not identified) wrote "Not true" beneath Minderhoud's account (his form; their letter). Their letter answers one of 23 May 1946, so it is later than Minderhoud's form of 15 April. Van Beek's own form tells of a pilot who crashed near Kootwijkerbroek in 1942, was sheltered "14 days at Molenweg 5" and passed to Kamerling at Utrecht (p. 2); ⚠︎ whether that is the same pilot is not said, and the joint letter's Mackay's and Ede do not match it.

Mons's pilot. ⚠︎ The pilot Mons found Van Dijk already helping is dated "End of June 1943" on a form that gives June 1944 for the BMW motorbike he handed to "the P.T.O. organization of Frans Hals" (Mons's form).

Kroner's Lt Low. ⚠︎ Kroner has Low passed to "Wim van Dyk"; Low's own report has no stay at Harskamp (above). Her "do" may be a handover for part of the time.

His grade. Grade 6 proposed by I.S.9 in May 1946, grade 5 on the Americans' award list and ◐ on the British index (above).

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