Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						2/Lt. John O. Fullerton was the navigator of B-24 42-51095 ‘Shoo Shoo Baby’ who bailed out with five other crewmembers near Vollenhove early in the afternoon of June 29, 1944. As soon as he had landed in a wheat field, he was approached by Dutch farmers who had witnessed his descent. They took care of his gear and somehow indicated Fullerton to stay put till collected. In the evening, two Dutch men took him to Vollenhove where he was given civilian clothes and some food. Later that night he was joined by the bombardier, 2/Lt. Frederick H Erdmann (E0584). The next day they were brought to Meppel by car where the airmen stayed for another night. The were handed over by resistance leader Peter van der Hurk to two sisters, Froukje Trijntje and Tina Wilhelmina de Vries at Prins Hendrikstraat 3a at Meppel. After an unknown period (according to some sources only one night) they were handed over to Van der Hurk again and then travelled by train to Amsterdam.

They were taken to a hiding address in the eastern part of the Dutch capital where they were joined by their fellow crewmembers Sgt. Everett Allen (E0580), Sgt. Billy Davis (E0583), Sgt. William Owens (E0586) and Sgt. Frank Peichoto (E0587). At this address they were provided with false identity cards and shortly there after they all moved to Zaandam where they stayed for about a week. Food was in short supply here and next to that there were a lot of Germans around.

Henk van Cleef and Ernst Smidt van Gelder took care of the six Americans and decided to move them. The group was split and Erdmann, Peichoto and Owens were the first to leave. Escorted by Van Cleef and Smidt van Gelder, they travelled by train to Veghel on July 4. At the station there, they were handed over to members of the Otten family who took the airmen to their home at Kerkstraat 6 in Erp, the so called Pyama House. Fullerton, Allen and Davis followed on 7 July where they joined Peichoto in the safe house of the Otten family. By that time, Erdmann and Owens had already left (on 5 July) for Dinther on their way to Belgium. At Erp, Davis was treated for his head injury by Doctor Henrar. On July 10, Allen and Davis also left Erp on their way to Belgium to travel on via the Comet escape line. Unfortunately, this escape route was infiltrated by the Germans and all four evaders were arrested by the Gestapo in Antwerp.

Fullerton and Peichoto were to travel via the eastern route to Belgium. On July 8, they were picked up by Jan Bode and Jacques Kruijssen from Lieshout who brought the two men to the Manders family in Bakel. From here they went to Zeilberg and on July 17, further to Veulen where they found a hiding place in the ‘Eijkhof’ farm of the van Staveren family. Here they met fellow Americans S/Sgt. Frank Garofalo (E0569) and 2/Lt. Richard Tracy (E0600) and RAF-airmen, Sgt. Charles Francis (E0496) and Sgt. Dennis Sharpe (E0498). On July 19, these six men travelled to Oostrom and from there it went by train to Jos Ronden (alias ‘De Witte’) in Sittard. Ronden delivered the airmen to policeman F. Buding in Hoensbroek. Another source indicates that Garofalo and Tracy joined Fullerton and the other three airmen in Nuth near Hoensbroek.

The plan to cross the Dutch-Belgian border near Maastricht had to be abandoned. After two weeks in Hoensbroek, they all were put on the train to Roermond. From the station there they were taken to the ‘De Bedelaer’ estate near Haelen where they could hide in the woods around the estate. In case of danger, they could go to the ‘De Spikkerhof’, an isolated farm near the estate. Early in September they moved to a farm in Kelpen and from there to a barn in Leveroij. Their hiding place there became anxiously close to the front line in the aftermath of Operation Constellation. Early November, Fullerton returned to Kelpen to find help for his fellow evaders who stayed in Leveroij. On 3 November P. Hendriks from Kelpen arrived with Fullerton at the house of Joseph Jacques Theelen at Dorpsstraat 36 at Baexem. He hid here for twelve days before being liberated by the 51st Scottish Division on November 15, 1944.

John Oblitz Fullerton passed away in January 1993 at the age of 70 at Freeport, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, USA. He is buried at Freeport Cemetery.