Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						2/Lt. Erwin J. Bevins was the co-pilot of B-24 42-7554. This bomber was damaged by flak over the target: a communication centre at Osnabrück, Germany. Eventually Bevins aircraft crashed near Bakhuizen. During the flight flak shrapnel injured Bevins at his right wrist and right leg and maybe therefore he was the first to bail out of the crippled bomber. He made a hard landing between the towns of Bakhuizen and Rijs, which resulted in a head wound and a concussion. Soon after the landing Jan Faber, who lived at Rijs 10 (now Mientwei 12 at Rijs) approached him and told him to hide in a ditch on the edge of the Rijsterbos. Faber assured Bevins that in the evening someone would come to help him. As soon as Bevins had hid himself, Faber went to a resistance worker in Bakhuizen: Augustinus Mous (Sint Odulphusstraat 23, Bakhuizen). Mous promised Faber that he would arrange the hiding of Bevins. Mous made a phone call to Harm Kingma (came from Leeuwarden but lived at Vollenhove) and asked if he could help. The next day (23 December) Kingma conft Mous that the airman would be picked up. This would become by an ambulance from the resistance. On the same day (23 December) Mous brought Bevins to the Flinkeboskje (a little forest near the junction Bakhuizen-Hemelum-Oudega) and told him to wait here.

That same evening (at 18.45 hours) the driver of an ambulance (of the De Vrij company at Leeuwarden) stopped in Bakhuizen and asked Mous if he know 'were mister Mous was living'. He answered with 'I am mister Mous'. Luckily the man who was sitting beside the driver recognized Mous. This man was one of the key persons of the resistance in Friesland named Krijn van der Helm from Leeuwarden. Mous, the driver Willem de Vrij, Krijn van der Helm and his courier Greta Nijdam then went to the Flinkeboskje. When they stopped Bevins came out of a ditch and was put into the ambulance and driven to Leeuwarden. Bevins was brought to the house of Krijn van der Helm at Beetgumerstraat 10 in Leeuwarden. Here the American hid until 2 February 1944. During Christmas he went with the Van der Helm family to the mass at a church in Leeuwarden. Another resistance worker, Rense Talsma, supplied Bevins with cigarettes and clothing in these days. Talsma also arranged a doctor to look at Bevins' shoulder that was injured during his landing. On 2 February 1944 Piet Sytema brought Bevins to his house at Warga no. 279. He had a bicycle shop and electric installation company. Rense Talsma and Botto (Bob) Siderius (gunsmith in Leeuwarden) took care of the well being of Bevins while he stayed with the Sytema family. While he was hiding here there was also an injured special agent in the house named ‘Smith’. Courier Tiny Mulder passed regularly by as a translator. On 8 April 1944 Bevins left in a car. Behind the steering wheel was Anske Zwaluwa (from Oudebildtzijl. She was a cap/driver for the resistance at Meppel). Also in the car were resistance workers Eggo Anko Streuper (synonym: Jan Velthuis - KP-Meppel) and the brothers Egbert and Wijtze Dijkstra. Egbert and Jan Dijkstra were members of the KP Meppel. Egbert was one of the keypersons of the KP-Meppel. They drove with Bevins to the garage of Egbert and Jan Dijkstra at Parallelweg 25 in Meppel. From here Bevins was brought to a photographer who made pictures for his fake ID-card. Bevins stayed for one night at his house opposite to the railroad station in Meppel.  

The next day, 9 April, Bevins was escorted by train from Meppel to Amersfoort where he was handed over to Gerrit van der Born. He brought Bevins to Gelius and Christina Ottens at Randenbroekerweg 7 in Amersfoort. Bevins hid here until 10 May 1944. On this day Albert Jan 'Appie' Koeslag jr. came and took Bevins to the farm of his father Albert Jan Koeslag sr. at Lindenbergsdijk 1 in Laren. Albert Jan jr. contacted then Willem Jan and Gerrie van Asselt at Nijverdal and asked them if Bevins could stay in their area. This was agreed and Albert Jan jr. took Bevins on 9 June 1944 to the Holterberg. Here Gerretje Johanna Piksen (resistance Nijverdal) took him over and brought Bevins - probably via the house of Willem Jan van Asselt at Smidswater 92 in Nijverdal - to Nijverdal, where she 'delivered' him to the house of Johan van de Werfhorst at Reestweg 8. It was probably here that he joined another airman: Sgt. Gerald Edward (Gerry) Martin (E0539) of the RAF.  After '2x two weeks', Bevins and Martin moved on at the end of July for 'a little less than a week' to the house of Jan Braakman at Zuid Eschweg 8a in Nijverdal. From there they were escorted by Gerrit Jan Piksen (brother of Gerretje and executed by the Germans in October 1944) and W. van Asselt on 11 August 1944 to family Aart Alberts at Oude Markt 2 in Nijverdal. They both stayed here '66 days', until 15 October 1944. The neighbor of Alberts was the butcher Jan J.K. Hildesbergen (Markt 1 at Nijverdal). He provided meat, clothing and cigarettes. Hulsbergen wrote about this provision after the war: 'The pilots were sheltered (...) at my neighbour's who could not give them any luxus as he was a factory-worker. I gave them a radio, tobacco, wine and other drinks to cheer them up a bit and also meat for I am a butcher.' Also Albert Tijhuis (Grote Straat 142, Nijverdal) gave support. He was the headmaster of the school. On 15 October 1944 Bevins and Martin moved to the bakery store of Meine van der Graaf at Salomonsonstraat 46 in Nijverdal . The caretakers of Bevins during his stay at the bakery of Van der Graaf were three doctors: Bakker, Smit and Bode. They gave Bevins medical care. Also Gerritje Johanna Piksen assisted by bringing food and clothing. While Martin remained at this address until the liberation, Bevins left on 8 March 1945. He was brought to the house of town architect Dirk Boontje at De Joncheerelaan 61 in Nijverdal. Bevins stayed here until 25 March 1945. As cover up for his resistance activities Boontje worked for the Germans. On 16 March 1945 Bevins moved again to another address at Nijverdal. Boontje escorted him on this date to the house in the woods of Erik Cramwinckel at Bonteweg 55 in Nijverdal. He stayed here until 5 April 1945. On that day Boontje picked him up again and brought Bevins to the house of Martin van der Harten at Grotestraat 274, also in Nijverdal. . These last days under German occupation in the house of Van Harten Bevins spent with another American airman: 1/Lt. Ted Weaver (E0602). A few days later the two Americans moved to a farm near Haarle 'to escape the Germans'. During the fighting the farm burned down on April 8-9. During the fights that were going on in town between the Germans and the Canadian forces on 9 April, the two airmen moved on the last hours before their liberation about 30 civilians from Nijverdal and also 22 Germans to a nearby castle named “De Sprengenberg”. They stayed here till the 2nd Canadian Division liberated them later that day.  

Erwin Bevins, who changed his first name into Edwin after the war, passed away on 2 March 1985 at the age of 65.