A double U-turn

 

Our focus had been on England.

But it didn't deliver any more information, just because we didn't have the right entrance.

Some people offered their help.
One never returned the message he wanted me to send to get him going.

I assumed others tried too.

Recently I sat down with a historian.

He said those young Dutch boys were indeed going to Canada for training.
According to him there was even a "Dutch school" (if he remembered well).

So he said me to contact the National Archives of The Netherlands again.

Even gave me the email.

I got a relatively fast reaction.

"Look on the site."
https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/zoekhulpen/engelandvaarders-1940-1945

Of course I have been trying to find my father on that site.
When it was first online, and several times later.
But his name didn't pop up at all.

So I contacted Miss or Mrs. FS again.

This time she pointed out that on that same page, a few lines lower it says:

There are people, born after 1924, who are not in the searchsystem for privacy reasons.

Ofcourse I have read that before. 
But which privacy is served?

I had sent her, in the first request, a copy of the declaration of death, dated 23 september 1989.

Now I told her that his parents have died, of course.
His brothers and sister don't live anymore.
Nor does my own sister.

So what is going on?

Asked her to explain the privacy part if she still doesn't want to look things up.

Waiting for an answer.

But the U-turned seemed not to be far enough...

One can go into local archives to find out who lived at the house-address during the war.
It was noted by the Germans when a person didn't live there anymore.
So we can get an idea of when he disappeared...

I've sent the local archives a mail to look that up.

Waiting for an answer.

The email I got was false or too old.

https://regionaalarchiefnijmegen.nl/praktische-informatie/archieven-inzien

So this too has been monitized!

So someone has to go there and look up:

De woningkaart van de Elzenstraat 25 en/of de gezinskaart van de familie Geertsen uit de periode 1940-1945 en 1945-1950. (Daarna Hengstdalseweg 116).

Om te achterhalen wanneer hij destijds officieel door de gemeente is uitgeschreven (of als 'V.O.W.' is aangemerkt) en wanneer hij na de bevrijding weer op dit adres is ingeschreven. (Of op het volgende woonadres van zijn vader en moeder Hengstdalseweg 116.)

Translation: Look up who were registered at that address during that time. To see if they have removed his name from the list of inhabitants or registered as Left, destination unknown.

Lesson learned:
First research a site before asking for information. It might cost you a fortune!!

We chatted a bit about common experiences in life and which one I shared with my father.
So I said I worked at the same national organisation: The PTT. (The national post telephone and telegraph company.) But at different jobs and different places.

Turned out that when returning from England, those young men were wanted for their technical skills an knowledge.
But before they got the job they went through a very thorough examination of their past.

So there are files about that.
In most cases they had also to answer questions about how they got in England.
And of course about their schooling.

Their archives are not subject to the enormously strict privacy rules.

So......


That's a u-turn back to his parental house, and right opposite to his job after he returned.

.

Cardington

 

Dad didn't say much about Cardington.
But he mentioned doing a lot of sports, and that he enjoyed being part of a team and learning about sports he had never played before. I assumed he meant cricket.

I saw photos of him in a football team, which might have been in Cardington.

Between his photos there were also some taken before the main "sheds" and between the barracks.

Seen photos with W/Cdr A A Fraser-Harris, Station Officer. One with my father sitting relaxed beside him.

Often online photos are too small to identify someone. Such a pity!

He regularly told that some stations were camouflaged, so the germans wouldn't recognise them. That might have been Cardington too. He was never able to suppress a grin when he was telling about that.

As a child I played with the boys in the woods and his story inspired us to camouflage our huts so the planes couldn't see us.
Not realising they wouldn't be able to see us anyway, because of the huge trees above us. LOL!

He taught me a lot about airships like Zeppelins.  He must have learned that at Cardington.
My gram told me about seeing  'Graf Zeppelin' flying above our town in 1929.
So she enjoyed my fathers stories as much as I did.
I used his drawings and teachings for a presentation at school.

On his records:

Unit From/Unit To2 RC = No. 2 Recruits’ Centre, RAF Station Cardington, Bedfordshire.

https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Shortstown/RAFCardington.aspx

Short story of the history of the base.

-=-=-=-

https://www.rafcardington.org.uk/

A page about the Dutch:
https://www.rafcardington.org.uk/DutchAirForce

The site offers photos, some short stories and an insight in the training the young recruits got.
Interesting is that also the staff is mentioned.

-=-=-=-

More History:

https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Shortstown/RAFCardington.aspx

Peiter J Huijskens book about Cardington

*_*_*

To-do:

https://uk.forceswarrecords.com/unit/131552/raf-cardington

https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/airfields/airfield.php?pid=2346

Sturtivant, Ray; Hamlin, John (2007). Royal Air Force flying training and support units since 1912. Tonbridge, UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 978-0851-3036-59.

Royal Patriotic School

The Royal Patriotic School was built as the Royal Victoria Patriotic School at Trinity Road in 1859.

It was first used as a home for girls who were orphaned in the Crimean War.
During WW1 it was used by the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties. About 1800 soldiers were treated in the building or the surrounding marquees.

After WW1 it became a girl's school, until 1939. Then they were all evacuated to Wales.

During WW2 it was the London Reception Centre, where 38.000 people who arrived from occupied Europe were questioned to gather intelligence and filter out the spies. 50 spies were identified.  300 faced longer detention for further interrogation. The centre was run by MI5 and MI6.

Intelligence personel worked there, including Colonel Oreste Pinto.
He was born in Amtserdam, studied in France. He was what the Dutch called: a lamnguage-miracle.
In 1913 he as recruited by the French and he worked as a spy.
Before WW2 he was requested to work for MI5, but he stayed independent, because he didn't want to loose Dutch citizenship. He became a counterintelligence officer.
At the centre he interrogated more than 30.000 people, and became famous for identifying 8 spies.
His most famous: the pursuit and arrest of Christiaan Lindemans, known as "King Kong," He was a Dutch resistance member who became a double agent working for German intelligence. Lindemans has been linked to the failure of the intelligence preceding Operation Market Garden at Arnhem.


Because most people arriving from occupied Europe were genuine refugees the approach of them was different from the usual way of dealing with potential spies.
Upon arrival people were never placed with those of their own country, language or group. So they couldn't construct stories or false identities.
They were first interrogted by a socalled "breaker", who would try to break through suspicious cover stories, and worked through the facts and personality. Until the decision was mde the refugee was safe or cooperative.
Then an investigator would try to gather as much local intelligence as possible. One of the methods was
Exhaustive Chronological Mapping, by which escape journeys needed to be recounted step-by-step., asking for micro-details: exact dates, names of streets, shops, cafes, colours of train tickets, the landscape, names, etc etc..

Another method was the Cross-Ruff Method. When escaped in a group, all members were immediately seperated, and interrogated. Even minor discrepancies, for instance in timelines, would be investigated. At times a person would be challenged by being told another group member had told a different story.

MI5 used highly specialised and knowledgeable personel. They knew regional dialects, the local social scene and habits, landmarks and other pecuiarities. And of course Nazi bureaucracy.

Soon after the first refugees had been seen it was clear that they could provide a lot of information about the local situations. Locations of factories, railwaystations and schedules, schools and shelters, places where Nazis were, impacts of bombing raids, and also movements of troops and defenses, even troop morale. Information also enabled to locate resistance groups, and check previous or otherwise gathered information.


The unmasked spies were immediately transferred to a high-seurity detention centre like Latchmere House/Camp 020 where they were interrogated less friendly. After conviction execution could follow. 15 enemy spies, indetified at the centre, faced that fate at Wandsworth prison.

My father told about going to a kind of school where he was interrogated.
He might not have been very awestruck by the building, as we have schools looking like these in our city.
I could feel the interrogation had made quite an impression on him, even though he never said anything specific about it.

Looking back, I think he has been able to give a lot of information about our city and the surrounding areas.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C137310

And now?

 

So we now have some info about his time in England.

But still nothing from the archives about the time between his arrival and officially joining the RAF.

He arrived probably during the winter of 1942-1943.

He was interviewed and his choice was joining the RAF, even though he was far too young.

He might have lied about his age, as so many did during the time.

We have proof he went to Nova Scotia as part of the MOD trainigsprogram, and arrived in spring 1943.

Did he take part in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan?

He had a badge of wireless operator and I have seen photos of him in uniform using wireless equipment during WW2.
After the war he got a job without any problems, even though he had no Dutch diploma. He became a kind of wireless operator at the National Post, Telegraph and Telephone company.

Before or right after going to Nova Scotia he lived a while in High Wycombe. working at a military base, staying with a widow and her daughter, with whom he kept in contact for a long, long time.

So there is still a lot to find out.

Records - Additional Information

Finally, further information on the units he served with during his RAF career may be found within Operations Record Books (ORBs).

These are a type of narrative of events documenting activities of units and containing information on tasks undertaken by them, and may include duties undertaken by personnel.

ORBs are held, in accordance with the Public Records Act, at The National Archives (TNA), Kew, where they are on open access to the public.

However, please note his name may not be mentioned on many occasions in these documents, although they should provide a flavour of life at the unit in question.
Also, please be aware the quality of ORBs varies, with some containing more information than others.

Further details regarding TNA will be found on their website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk .
A catalogue of TNA holdings is also accessible through the website, and it can be used to search for document references relating to relevant units, under the departmental code “AIR” (Air Ministry).

TNA offers a paid research service, as well as being able to provide a list of independent private researchers, who may be able to undertake work for you, for an agreed fee.
Details are available by following the link on their website: “Records>paying for research”.

Records - Interpretation 5

 

PROMOTIONS, RECLASSIFICATIONS,

REVERSIONS.

Description (Ranks)

AC 2= Aircraftman 2 nd Class.

A C I = Aircraftman 1 st Class.

A C I - F M E – AC2 - F 2 E = in the rank of Aircraftman 1 st Class whilst serving as a Flight Mechanic

{Engines}, 

then (a usual process) reverted to the Rank of Aircraftman 2 nd Class upon qualifying in a

different Trade (Fitter Grade {Engines}).

Note: N. E. = Non-Effective, which would have been stamped anywhere on the record once the

individual had left the RAF.

SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS.

Exams., Courses, Engines, etc.

Description and Degree of Proficiency or Assessment.

Att Course F M E 19. 12 45. Obt 47% = Attended Flight Mechanic {Engines} Course. 

Obtained 47%.

Ex Remust Obtained 60% 

1-6-46 = Exam. Re-mustered from the Trade of Flight Mechanic {Engines} under training to Fitter Grade 2 {Engines}.

Ex Henlow 3/12/46 52% = Exam. No. 14 School of Technical Training, RAF Station Henlow,

Bedfordshire, No. 24 Group, Technical Training Command.

Note: ‘P. O. R’ = Personnel Occurrence Report. 

Entries such as ‘16/46’, ‘271/45’, ‘114/45’, ‘142/46’,

and ‘135/46’ are a document reference and the year.

Records - Interpretation 4

 

MUSTERING.

Description and Date of Effect.

ACH/F. M. {E} = Aircrafthand {general duties}, 

to be trained as a Flight Mechanic {Engines}.

F M E = Flight Mechanic {Engines}.

F. M. E UT/F. II E = Flight Mechanic {Engines} Under Training Fitter Grade 2 {Engines}.

AC2 F2E = Aircraftman 2 nd Class (Rank). Fitter Grade 2 {Engines} (Trade).

Rank.

A C 2 (2 entries) = Aircraftman 2 nd Class.

Character.

This column contains one or more of the following: ‘V G’ - Very Good, ‘Gd’ - Good, Fair,

‘Ind’ - Indifferent, Bad. Each one could be recorded one or more times, or there could be a

combination (for instance: ‘Gd’, ‘Gd’, or ‘Gd’, ‘VG’ etc).

Trade (job).

U/T F M E = Under Training Flight Mechanic {Engines}.

F. 2. E. = Fitter Grade 2 {Engines}.

Proficiency.

A = Skill in Trade.

B = Ability as a Supervisor.

C = Administrative Ability.

Apart from u /t (under training), any of the following could be recorded under A, B or C:

Ex - Exceptional, Supr - Superior, Sat - Satisfactory, Mod - Moderate, Inf - Inferior.