Questions regarding the crash in 1943 near Wamel

Roy Macdonald from Wales and the daughter of Peter Balson from Australia will meet each other on Monday (29-03-2004) in Dreumel.A significant meeting. Macdonald and Balson were crew members on the Halifax which crashed in 1943 near Wamel. Jos van Koolwijk wants to recall the events after the crash.

 Dreumel.

A burning Halifax bomber flies from Ochten over Tiel and vanishes on the other side of the river Waal behind the dike. The crew survives the crash. The seven members of the airforce crew end up as prisoners of war in Germany. Nearly 60 years later, Roy Macdonald appears on Jos van Koolwijk`s doorstep. This is the start of an intensive search for the events of June 1943.

 For many years van Koolwijk has been interested in the occurrences in Dreumel during the 2nd World War. In the nineteen eighties he brought out a book, as part of a local history project (Heemkundeproject) of the village.(In 1980 it was incorporated into a larger council-unit of several villages and "polder"-areas).

The Halifax crash near the village of Wamel was mentioned in the book.

57 years later, in the year 2000, Roy Macdonald happened to visit the region where he and his fellow crew members had crashed. He wanted to visit the Mayor. Just by chance he knocked on the door of van Koolwijk. Probably one of the few people in Dreumel who happened to know anything at all about the history of Macdonald. "He was very surprised by the fact that I had a book which did not only mention the crash but also his name!".

 From that moment van Koolwijk’s interest in it was aroused. He has found out quite a lot about it in the recent years, but there are still some questions unanswered

The bird`s-eye view of the events follow. During the night of 21-22nd of June 1943 the Halifax with Macdonald was on the return journey to England after a bombardment on Krefeld. A German night fighter, out of their sight, attacked them successfully. The crew saved themselves with their parachutes.

At this point, Macdonald played an important part. The pilot, Tom Lane, was jammed. Macdonald who was prepared to jump out of the plane, heard his comrade calling for help and went to his aid.

After the landing, Macdonald found himself somewhere in the area of Schutlaken. He didn’t realise that he was in Holland. He was somewhere near a wide ditch. At one point in the night something approached so he crossed the watercourse and carried on walking in a south-westerly direction.

On the way he passed a duck decoy. Macdonald told van Koolwijk that he passed a white pole with markings indicating that he was in the Netherlands. This sort of pole marked the protected area of ducks in a reserve. He can also remember having walked along a small bridge.

Finally, he knocked on the door of a farm in Hoog Schaar. The farmer took charge of him. Macdonald remembers seeing a sign "Hairdressing" on a house at a corner. The farmer took him to the police station where he was fed and given dry clothing. When he was about to leave, the military police told him that it was not possible. He had been seen and the Germans knew of his existence. If they did not find him, it would lead to reprisals, according to the military police. Macdonald was taken to Tiel and eventually ended up in Nijmegen.

All crew members in hands of the Germans.

One of Macdonald`s colleagues, Peter Balson from Australia was wounded on landing and broke an ankle. Seeing a farmer approaching with a horse and cart, he waved to the man, but he turned tail. A while later, Dr.van Haagen came into the picture. Presumably he had been warned by the farmer and he took care of Balson.

The Australian was taken to the old Town Hall in Beneden-Leeuwen where he came into contact with the daughter of the sollicitor Baltussen, Wieke, whom the Germans had hired as an interpreter.

The pilot, Tom Lane, landed in a cornfield. Lane stayed hidden there for a day. There was a farm nearby on a hillock or slightly higher area. Lane saw a woman come out of the farm, twice, to milk the cows. Towards the evening he knocked on the door. Inside there was a woman, a man and a youth. The man walked into another room and returned armed with a rifle. The woman grabbed a pitchfork  and together they brought the pilot to the police.

Thus, all seven crew members of the bomber, were eventually taken prisoner by the Germans. Via Amsterdam they were transported to prisoner of war camps in Poland and Lithuania.

Van Koolwijk hopes to have the answer to some questions for his visitor who comes on Monday.(March 29th). He would like to know the location of the farm where Macdonald knocked on the door on June 22nd 1943.

Van Koolwijk would like to come into contact with people who can remember the crash. Also he does not have information of the whereabouts in Tiel and Nijmegen where the crew members were interrogated.

Anyone who can help van Koolwijk, can phone him (resident of Dreumel) after 8 pm. Telephone nr. 0487-572066.