Thomas Murphy 2756457

Sources

Where everything on these pages about Private Thomas Murphy comes from. Three more pages sit with this one:

  • His own account, checked: where the records and his memoirs disagree, and every claim in the memoirs tested against the documents.
  • What we still don't know: the open questions, and the archives and records that might answer them.
  • His papers: his memoirs, his service list, the 1945 letters and the newspaper cutting, as scans.

How this site works

A family research file. Everything in it is graded by how good the evidence is, and everything still unproven is marked as such.

Every factual claim in this site points at a source, and a copy of every source is kept alongside it so nothing is lost if a website disappears (the sources). The family's own papers are reproduced in full (The family papers). Anything that rests only on Thomas Murphy's own word is marked ⚠︎, and His own account, tested claim by claim goes through every one of those.

Evidence grades

The marks beside claims on every page say how strong the evidence is, not that the claim is certain; hover over one, or tap it on a phone, for the same words:

Mark Grade What it means
✓ Confirmed A record of the time or an official document says so. Records can be wrong too: the link beside it is the evidence. Shown only in tables; in the text, confirmed carries no mark.
◐ Probable What the sources point to, though none says it outright. Usually our own reading; the reasoning is beside it.
⚠︎ Unconfirmed From one account, or one not yet checked against a record. Not shown wrong, just not proven.
✗ Shown wrong A record contradicts it. The page says which.

The sources themselves, from the strongest down:

Tier Source Reliability
A Contemporary official documents held by the family, the A.A.C. Record Office letter of 2 May 1945 withdrawing the death notification (scan); the typed army service list (scan) Highest. Written by the War Office at the time, naming him and his service number
B Contemporary press, Sunday Post, 29 April 1945, "Back From The Dead", with photograph (scan) High. Published four days after he reached home, sourced from him and his parents
C MI9 escape and evasion reports, 1945, Hardy, Walsh, Schjelderup (extract on Hardy's page), and Noble, captured in the same net as Murphy on 2/3 January 1945, whose report and POW questionnaire are the only contemporary account of what happened to that group afterwards High. Official IS9 debriefs taken within days or weeks of each man reaching Allied lines, naming Murphy directly. ⚠︎ Each pegasusarchive page carries a biographical preamble and square-bracket annotations written by the site's compiler, those are not the 1945 document, and one of them is wrong (Settled). This site cites the report text; where it relies on the compiler's preamble it says so
D Dutch published history and commemorative records, Airborne Magazine nr.27 (2023), Omroep Gelderland on Wolter Noordman's research (2019), Elspeet local history, Digitaal Monument Neuengamme, TracesOfWar, Stichting Vrouwenmars 1945, Geschiedenis Magazine Good. Built on Dutch archives, camp records, a wartime guestbook and the unpublished recollections of a safe-house household. Two of these name Thomas Murphy
E ParaData (entry) Mixed. Family-supplied and curated, but wrong on two checkable facts (Discrepancies)
F Thomas Murphy's own memoirs, handwritten and typed, c.1998 (the papers, The family papers) Primary but recollective, fifty-plus years on. Invaluable for what only he could know; not authority for a date. Tested claim by claim in His own account, tested claim by claim

One thing in this site is testimony rather than established fact: the allegation against Tex Banwell (On Tex Banwell). It is labelled where it appears.

The sources, by topic

A copy of every source is kept with this site; the sources page lists them all, with where each came from.

Family papers, The family papers.

British primary (transcribed): MI9 reports of Hardy, Walsh, Schjelderup (extract), Kessel, Longland, Warrack, Bryson, Haller, McNaught, Banwell, Warren, and eighteen 156 Bn men; Noble's escape report and POW questionnaire; Moore's summary and Davison's postwar memoir — The Battle of Arnhem Archive. The British index to Dutch helpers, WO 208/5476–5477, as photographed by John Howes. Bob Porter, The Long Return (1997), chapters 5–8, online at AFEES (chapter 5; chapters 6–8, transcribed passages). London Gazette 44740 (Banwell's BEM) and 37274 (Hardy's MM). Col. Graeme Warrack's diary of the hospital in the Apeldoorn barracks, 25 September to 16 October 1944, with its roll of the medical staff there, in the typed transcript of about 1982 (Wellcome Collection RAMC/1584, the transcription).

British published: Lipmann Kessel, Surgeon at Arms (1958; the 1959 US edition on the Internet Archive, extracts, further extracts).

Canadian primary: "Two Came Back!", Appendix 23 to the January 1945 war diary of 1st Bn The Canadian Scottish Regiment, by its diarist Pte R.F. Bradley (the regiment's copy, University of Victoria Libraries; Library and Archives Canada).

Dutch: Wolter Noordman, Schuilplaats de Veluwe (Omniboek, 2019), read in full, with the De Ruif guestbook pages, Liesbeth Verweij's account of Sterrehoveke and two photographs of him (the book) · Somford, "Op zolder bij Oom Joop", Airborne Magazine nr.27 (2023) · Omroep Gelderland on Noordman, 4 Dec 2019 · elspeethistorie.nl, "Baken van verzet" · Digitaal Monument Neuengamme, Jacob Veerman · TracesOfWar, J. M. Vanhaelen-Veerman · Stichting Vrouwenmars 1945 · RTV Utrecht, 4 May 2024 · Geschiedenis Magazine, "Ongezien de Rijn over" · Willem Tiemens on Banwell · Nationaal Archief, "De Harskamp" · Wikipedia EN/NL on Van Nispen tot Sevenaer and the Putten raid · KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme on the Cap Arcona · wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com's list of Dutch helpers of airmen · Frans Kluiters, Dutch Agents 1940–1945 (NISA) · elspeethistorie.nl, "Geheim agenten" and "Verzet" · Oorlogsslachtoffers Betuwe-West on Adriaan Maljers · Stichting Doetinchem Herdenkt, two pages: the Allied prisoners of De Kruisberg, and the 2 February 1945 transport to Neuengamme · Oorlogsgravenstichting, Huurdeman on the December 1944 arrests · Digitaal Monument Neuengamme, Fokke Dijkstra · Rudolphstichting De Glind, Jan Dijkstra's memoir · Wikipedia NL on Velp · the Rotterdamsche Bank plaque · Tijding (Laren), 17 May 1945, via Delpher (the two articles) · Nederland Vrij, 5 May 1945, via Delpher · Barneveldse Krant, 25 May 1976 and 12 September 1977, via archieval.nl · the Erelijst van Gevallenen · Oorlogsgravenstichting on Klooster and Van Meerveld · Kamp Amersfoort's prisoner register · the Veerman civil records via Open Archieven.

German: the US prosecution's Nuremberg summary of the case against Keitel, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression vol. 2 ch. XVI, for the orders on captured paratroopers and recaptured escapers (Avalon Project).

British secondary: ParaData (Murphy; 151 Bn; 156 Bn; Kessel; Arthur Shepley; the other Samuel Walsh) · Black Watch Castle & Museum history and research page · The Highlanders' Museum on "Ladies from Hell" · Wikipedia on 156 Bn, Stalags XI-B/357, Stalag II-B, Bergen-Belsen, Tex Banwell, Organisation Todt · The Arrowhead Club on the liberation · IWM catalogue, and the Powell interview · Liberation Route on Pegasus II · Australian War Memorial on "Bardia Bill" · 151–156 Para Bn Association · Thoroton Publishing · Findmypast's piece list · British Newspaper Archive title pages · The National Archives' fees page · Bundesarchiv · Arolsen Archives.

Catalogues: The National Archives' Discovery catalogue, searched by name, by service number and by birthplace (the raw results, as returned by the API). Every catalogue entry cited in this site links to the record it describes, so each can be checked in one click. The German POW cards are WO 416, about 200,000 German-printed cards on prisoners held by the German authorities, taken by the British Army in 1945; the service-number block around Murphy's is in WO 422 and WO 423, The service number, and where he signed on.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: the casualty record and five scanned documents for Lt W. S. Donaldson, Arnhem.

The route on these pages comes from the official British MI9 debriefs of Hardy and Walsh, taken in January and March 1945. Dutch names in quotation marks are as the British recorded them, so some are phonetic and some are cover names. Most of the households are named from Dutch sources, above all Wolter Noordman's Schuilplaats de Veluwe (Omniboek, 2019), which was built on Dr Kruimel's guestbook and the Van Eysinga family's papers and gives a chapter to Walsh and Murphy (Noordman; buy the book).

What each source covers:

Claim Source
The escape, the route, and the Dutch names as the British heard them MI9 escape and evasion reports of Pte James Hardy MM (ref IS9/WEA/1/270/2351, taken 13 January 1945) and Pte Samuel Walsh (taken 7 March 1945), official British debriefs. Hardy · Walsh
The final crossing and who was lost Extract from the report of Capt. V. R. Schjelderup MC, 1st Bn The Canadian Scottish Regiment, ref IS9/WEA/1/271
The same night from a man who was caught; Velp; the Gestapo prisons; Stalag XI-B Escape report (23 Sep 1945) and POW questionnaire (26 Apr 1945) of Capt. Charles Noble, 133 Para Fd Amb. Noble
Jacob Veerman, birth, arrest, camps, the Cap Arcona Digitaal Monument Neuengamme, quoting José Huurdeman, Ondergronds in de Tweede Wereldoorlog: verhalen uit de Gelderse Vallei, Veluwe en Krimpenerwaard (Historische Kring Leusden, 2019); the Erelijst van Gevallenen; Kamp Amersfoort's register
The Veerman household: his parents, his wife Aaltje Bakker, his brothers and sisters, the deaths of June 1944 and January 1945 Civil registration via Open Archieven
Jopie's later life, her husband and children, her mother's remarriage Barneveldse Krant, 12 September 1977
Kruimel's death at De Ruif Barneveldse Krant, 25 May 1976
Klooster and "Ape" Oorlogsgravenstichting
The food negotiations at Achterveld, April 1945 Nederland Vrij, 5 May 1945, via Delpher
Jopie Veerman, dates, the Vrouwenmars, the photograph TracesOfWar.nl, citing I. van Doorn & H. Sennema, Vrouwenmars 1945 (2025)
The Vrouwenmars Stichting Vrouwenmars 1945
The Esveld brothers, Cornelisse, the ferry Geschiedenis Magazine, "Ongezien de Rijn over"
The road after capture, from inside the party: Arnhem, the Wolvenplein, De Kruisberg Bob Porter, The Long Return (1997), chapters 6–8, transcribed passages
Amerongen before the crossing: the Cornelissen, Esveld and Hoogland households, Christmas 1944, the three paratroopers seen a week before Porter, chapter 5, transcribed passages
What the helpers themselves recorded: the Van Nispens, Dove Jan, Hoekstra, Migchelsen, Van der Vlist, Baar, Van Vemde, the Veermans, the Esvelds, Maljers Their questionnaires and letters for the US Army's helper office, 1945–47: US National Archives, RG 498, series 5709392, each page linked
De Ruif, the burgomaster and his wife (no date in the book); a crossing from Amerongen over the ice (no date in the book; ◐ the failed January attempt) Lipmann Kessel, Surgeon at Arms (1958; 1959 US edition, extracts, further extracts)
Shepley survived ParaData
The guide Maljers, the crossing from the Dutch side, Velp, the Wolvenplein, De Kruisberg Oorlogsslachtoffers Betuwe-West; Doetinchem Herdenkt; 4 en 5 mei, the Velp plaque
The December 1944 round-up around Achterveld; Fokke Dijkstra Oorlogsgravenstichting, quoting Huurdeman; Digitaal Monument Neuengamme; Rudolphstichting De Glind
Kruimel, De Ruif, the guestbook, the burning, Murphy named Somford, "Op zolder bij Oom Joop", Airborne Magazine nr.27, 2023
Van Nispen's own account of De Ruif and the raid of 23 October 1944, told on his return to Laren Tijding, 17 May 1945, via Delpher
Lipmann Kessel and the RAMC party who came to De Ruif next Kessel
What the British recorded afterwards: the helper grades and addresses British index to Dutch helpers, TNA WO 208/5476–5477, as photographed by John Howes
Van Eysinga, Sterrehoveke, the Verweij diary naming Murphy Omroep Gelderland on Noordman, 2019; elspeethistorie.nl
Murphy's pages in the De Ruif guestbook; Dove Jan; Verweij's account of Sterrehoveke and the night march; Kijkuit; the Mackay estate; the photographs Wolter Noordman, Schuilplaats de Veluwe (Omniboek, 2019), Noordman; buy the book
The night of 2/3 January from the Canadian side "Two Came Back!", R.F. Bradley, Appendix 23 to the war diary of 1st Bn The Canadian Scottish Regiment, January 1945, Two Came Back!; Library and Archives Canada
Van Nispen tot Sevenaer Wikipedia
The latecomers of Pegasus II, the forester Van de Brink and the arrests at Roekel; Kragt's men in Harskamp Ede's war history, manuscript "Het Verzet" for Ede 1940–1945, Gemeentearchief Ede 1006/1160
Kruimel's letter on De Ruif; the Veerman farm's war-damage claim Gemeentearchief Barneveld 002/1558
Jacob Veerman remembered, and the baker Hein Schouten (signed "J. M. Sch.", ◐ very probably Jan M. Schouten, Hein's son) Leusder Krant, 2 April 1970, via Archief Eemland
Mackay's, Dove Jan's and Gerrit van Ee's names in the civil registers Open Archieven: Mackay; Van Oldenbarneveld; Van Ee
Bram Baar's arrest and execution Oorlogsbronnen, from the NIOD register of the war dead
Leendert Veerman at Vught Arolsen Archives
Where Liesbeth Verweij's typescript is Tresoar, toegang 323
The Veerman descendants at Neuengamme RTV Utrecht, 4 May 2024
Reported dead 20 Nov 1944; alive 25 April 1945 A.A.C. Record Office letter, 2 May 1945, scan
The chicken hut, the deaf-and-dumb ruse, the swim Sunday Post, 29 April 1945, scan
The 1974 visit (his notes say 1975), the revolver from the uncle, the Esveldt family, the night of the escape Thomas Murphy's memoirs, c.1998, reproduced in full

Every source, by where it comes from

The Battle of Arnhem Archive: MI9 reports and biographies

Dutch sources

British and other sources

Canadian sources

American sources

German sources

Archive catalogues

Our own maps

Get in touch

If anyone on these pages was family of yours, or you knew them, please write. That means the men he served, escaped and was held with, the Dutch families who hid them, and everyone else whose path crossed his. A photograph, a letter, a name, a story or a correction all help. Some of the best of what is here came from somebody getting in touch.

Was iemand op deze pagina's familie van u, of kende u hen? Schrijf dan gerust. Dat geldt voor de mannen met wie hij diende, ontsnapte en gevangen zat, voor de Nederlandse families die hen verborgen hielden, en voor iedereen wiens pad het zijne kruiste. Een foto, een brief, een naam, een verhaal of een correctie: alles helpt. Veel van het beste wat hier staat, kwam van iemand die contact opnam. Schrijven mag in het Nederlands of in het Vlaams.

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