Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						F/O. Roy Edward Carter was the navigator of Halifax NA514 that was shot down by a German night fighter at a quarter past one on June 17, 1944. The bomber crashed at the Groote Heide near Nistelrode but Carter bailed out in time and landed between Gemert and Boerdonk. He hid himself for the rest of the day and the next day, June 18, he found a hiding place at the farm of the Maas family, east of Boerdonk. The farmer informed the local resistance and members of the resistance group around Paul Reybroek collected Carter there. They took him to the van den Broek family in Boekel where he went in hiding until June 26. On this date, Paul Reybroek escorted Carter to Erp where he found a hiding place in the house of the Otten family at Kerkstraat 6, the so-called Pyama-House. The next day, June 27, Harrie Otten brought Carter to Cor van Laanen in Dinther who then brought the airman to farmer Harrie van de Ven at the Dolvert A129 in the same village. Two days later, Cor van Laanen returned there and cycled with Carter and 1/Lt. Garland B. LLoyd (E0342) to the bicycle shop of Janus van Mook in Schijndel.

On July 4, they proceeded their journey and escorted by a certain ‘Bim’, the son of a notary from Oisterwijk, they went to the station in Schijndel. Here they took the train to Tilburg where they went to stay with the Willekens family at the Heuvel 61 in this town. Both Carter and Lloyd were to move,  so Carter left on July 8 and Lloyd was supposed to leave the next day. Initially Carter would be picked up by car but due to his strong posture, he cycled together with Leonie and Bep van Harssel to the house of Jacoba Pulskens at the Diepenstraat 25 in Tilburg. Early in the evening he was joined there by F/Lt. R.A. Walker (E0574) and F/O. J.S. Nott (E0542) who arrived by car, driven by three members of the Dutch resistance.

The car then departed to collect Sgt. Bruce Fraser (E0509) and F/O. Robert MacFayden (E0516). While returning to Tilburg after curfew, the car was halted by a German patrol near Moergestel. They became suspicious and decided to arrest the five occupants. Next, they informed the Gestapo about the capture and the detainees are taken to their local quarters in Moergestel. Early the next morning, the two airmen were handed over to the Luftwaffe while the three Dutch resistance men, Aarts, Brunnekreef and Haagen, were brought to the SD office in Den Bosch. The interrogation revealed that there were more airmen in hiding at the address in the Diepenstraat and the SD decided to raid the house of ‘Aunt Coba’ Pulskens.

Towards noon on Sunday July 9, 1944, the German SD raided the house. The three airmen, Carter, Walker and Nott, fled to the courtyard and raised their arms above their heads. Nonetheless, they were put against the wall and then executed by Michael Rotschopf, one of the SD men. Because they were dressed in civilian clothes there was some quandary about their identity. Once it was determined that they were English airmen, their bodies were taken to Camp Vught where they were cremated. All three airmen are still listed as missing and their names are mentioned on the Runnymede Memorial with Carter being commemorated on panel 245.

Jacoba Pulskens was arrested and sent to concentration camp Ravensbrück. She passed away there in February 1945 from exhaustion and diarrhoea. Resistance members Aarts, Brunnekreef and Haagen were eventually brought to Kamp Vught where they were executed on August 19, 1944.