Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						P/O. Arthur Tedder Longford Cullum was the navigator of Lancaster ED435. After bailing out he landed somewhere between Holten and Rijssen. The gamekeeper Joh. Wolters saw the Cullum passing his house at the Lichtenbergerweg that night. He carried his parachute over his shoulder. Wolters went outside and offered the Canadian airman shelter in a haystack near his house. After Wolters had informed doctor Gerritsma of Cullum's presence he was picked up by Gerritsma on his motorbike. Cullum stayed at Gerritsma's house for some time. Because the doctor had young children, there was always the possibility that in their ignorance they would talk to others about the fact that an airman hid in their house. Therefore, Cullum stayed with the neighbor, veterinary surgeon G.S.E. Vegter, during the day . At dusk, Cullum crossed the road to the Gerritsma family to spend the night there.

After a while, Cullum was brought to an isolated cabin in a wood near Lettele. From here, Cullum was escorted probably to the house of John Adriaan Meeuwis at the Paramaribostraat 137 in Amsterdam. Meeuwis then transferred Cullum to Peter van der Hurk in Meppel. Here he probably hid with Peter and J. ten Cate who in their turn handed him over to Pastor Willem Nicolaas van Nooten at Zuideinde 53 in Meppel. From here he was brought to Albert van Spijker at Meppel were he stayed only for one day. On 6 June 1943 Van der Hurk en Harm van Oosten guided Cullum by train to Baarle-Nassau. Also Gerard Jansen helped with this transport. 

Cullum was handed over to Kart Smit and Roelvink who brought him to the house of Eugene van der Heyden in Hilvarenbeek. Here Cullum met the Canadian pilot Robert Fitzgerald Conroy (E1000). They stayed in the house of Vander Heyden for one day. From here they were brought to the 'camp' at estate “de Utrecht” near Esbeek. They stayed here until 18 June. The following morning at 8 PM, a Dutch marechaussee (Dutch military policeman), Karst Smit, took Conroy and Cullum to a nearby forest at estate “de Utrecht” near Esbeek where they joined four Dutch students who were hiding here in a dug-out from the German forced labour service. After two days, in the early morning of 18 June, another Dutch (military) policeman took Conroy and Cullum by bicycle to a point in the wood at about two kilometer of the Belgian border. From here they walked to the border where the first policeman was on duty. Conroy and Cullum were given a Belgium ID-card and handed over to a smuggler and his son who took them accros the border to a village. From there they took the tram to Turnhout. In this town Cullum, Conroy and possibly an othe airman took a train to Antwerp and thence to Brussels, arriving in the Belgian capital at about noon on 18 June.

Here they were handed over to Jean Krauss at 157 Rue Vanderstichelen in Molenbeek-Brussels. Cullum possibly stayed here for one week before he moved, together with another evader, William Kesky, to the house of Eugène Truffin at 8 Rue du Lycée in Saint-Gilles/Brussels. Possibly here Cullum's and Conroy's ways separated. Conroy eventually managed to return to England in October 1943. In the house of Truffin Cullum and Kesky stayed for 28 days before being handed over to Paul Boutet, captain of the Salvation Army, and living at 76 Rue Antoine Dansaert in the center of Brussels. Cullum mentioned in his debriefing report also that he hid in 'a castle outside of Brussels' for about a week before he took the train to Paris. Like many others he now fell in the hands of Belgian V-Mann Prosper Dezitter. After arriving in Paris he spent a night in a hotel in Paris on 23 July. Here he joined nine other evaders (Frank Sanders, Lee Sanders, Raymond Smith and an unknown person). The next day, en route to Gare d'Austerlitz were they were supposed to board a train to Bordeaux the group was halted by Gestapo agents, arrested and sent to Fresnes prison. He was incarcerated here until 21 August and then then sent to Stalag Luft III. Cullum was finally liberated by Allied troops in Lübeck on 2 May 1945.