Thomas R. Murphy Updated: 30 JUL 2018
Airman: v999002.htm Surname: Murphy Init: T R Rank: S/Sgt Service: USAAF Sqdn: 755
P_link: p278.htm Plane: B24 42-52432 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Venslev.
Crash_d: d090444 Buried_d: s999 C_link: v999.htm At_Next: EVD
AOD: "Murphy og Reed landede tæt sammen på en
mark mellem Venslevvej og vejen mod syd fra Hyllested. Den unge Ejvind Friis så
dem lande og viste dem
ud af landsbyen til en skov nær hans hjem. Ejvind gik så
hjem for at vente på at tyskerne skulle holde op med at lede efter dem, før han
ville komme tilbage til dem.
Da han kom tilbage, var de taget afsted med
buschauffør Bernhard Hansen og Sven Anker Brøns, som havde fået øje på dem i
skoven. Da de havde sat de sidste passagerer af, havde de vendt bussen, samlet
flyverne op og taget dem til Haarslev-Tingjellinge skole, hvor flyverne blev
gemt i kælderen.
Om aftenen blev de samlet op af Dr. Thorsteinson
og kørt til falckredder Svend Aage Nielsens hjem i Slagelse."
Et antal danskere blev indblandet i deres flugt
til Sverige. Tre af dem mistede livet i løbet af krigen! DFEV: "Leif Bruhn
Petersen blev kort efter, i maj, skudt ned og
dræbt af Gestapo på Rådhuspladsen.
Ejnar Larsen blev henrettet i Ryvangen den 27. februar 1945. Stationsleder
de
Neergaard, der havde været Finlands-frivillig, og
som havde deltaget i næsten
alle former for illegalt arbejde blev også henrettet, den 28. marts 1945."
Henning Lindhardt 19 JUL 2018: ”En af de centrale personer var den unge
premierløjtnant, senere oberst,
Bent Jakobsen.
Han var til påskefrokost hos svigerfamilien
Brøns. De hører en kraftig
brummende lyd og forlader straks påskebordet. De ser den store amerikanske
maskine og et antal faldskærme, der daler ned fra flyet.
Jakobsen
springer på en cykel og kører i retning af nedstyrtningsstedet. Da Jakobsen
et stykke tid efter kommer tilbage til frokosten, ser han, at der sidder to
amerikanske flyvere i sofaen. Det er Reed og Murphy. De skal naturligvis
reddes til Sverige og Jakobsen vil med. Jakobsen finder også ud af at, Logie
opholder sig
på en gård i nærheden. Jakobsen tager kontakt til
de
Neergaard og alle tre bliver kørt til København.
Reed og Murphy bor hos Leif Bruhn
Petersen. Bruhn Petersen tager kontakt til sin bror Fritz, der er
læge i Nykøbing Sj. Lægen aftaler en transport med en stenfisker.
Reed, Murphy, Bent Jakobsen og en mor med to små børn tager toget til
Nykøbing. Det svenske rigsarkiv har bekræftet ankomsten til Sverige.
Pilot Logie klarede også at flygte. En del af tiden
var han sammen med Murphy og Reed.
På Venslev Kirkegård blev der 2/9 1945 rejst en mindesten for de faldne, som er
begravet på Svinø Kirkegård.
Se også Photo of Crew 68 of 755th
Squadron, 458th Bombardment Group, MACR, links to Reports, list of Missions and
account from
Pilot, 2nd Lt B.E. Logie.
10 flyvere.
AOD: "Murphy and Reed landed close together in a
field between Venslevvej road and the road going south from Hyllested.Young
Ejvind Friis saw them land and showed them out of the village to a wood near his
home. Ejvind then walked home to wait for the Germans to stop searching before
he would come back to them.
When he came back they had left with Busdriver
Bernhard Hansen and Sven Anker Brøns who had spotted them in the woods. When
they had delivered the last passengers they had turned the bus around and picked
the flyers up and taken them to Haarslev-Tingjellinge school, where the flyers
were hidden in the basement.
In the evening they were picked up by Doctor Thorsteinson and driven to the home of Falck employee Svend Aage Nielsen in Slagelse."
A number of Danes were involved in their evasion
to Sweden. Three of them lost their lives during the war! DFEV: "Leif Bruhn
Petersen was shot down and killed by
Gestapo in the City Hall Square of
Copenhagen in May 1944. Ejnar Larsen was executed in Ryvangen 27 February 1945.
Head of Falck in Slagelse,
Bruno de Neergaard, who had been a volunteer in
Finland´s war and who had participated in nearly all kinds of illegal work was
also executed, on 28 March 1945."
Henning Lindhardt 19 JUL 2018: "One
of the central figures was the young First Lieutenant, later Colonel, Bent
Jakobsen. He was having an Easter Lunch with his
family-by-marriage, the
Brøns family. They hear a powerful humming sound and immediately they leave the
Easter table. They see the big American plane and a
number of parachutes
falling down from the plane. Jakobsen jumps onto a bicycle and heads for the
crash site. When Jakobsen after some time returns to the lunch
he sees two
American airmen sitting in the settee, Reed and Murphy. Of course they have to
be rescued to Sweden, and Jakobsen wants to join them. Jakobsen also
finds
out that Logie is staying on a neighbouring farm. Jakobsen contacts de Neergaard
and the three of them are driven to Copenhagen.
Reed and Murphy stay with
Leif Bruhn Petersen. Bruhn Petersen contacts his brother Fritz, who is a doctor
in Nykøbing Zealand. The doctor arranges a transport with a man who had a boat
for fishing up boulders from the sea bed. Reed, Murphy, Bent Jakobsen, and a
mother with two small children go by train to Nykøbing. The Swedish National
Archives has confirmed their arrival in Sweden.
That was the short version. I have described the event in
detail in my book The Resistance in Odsherred 1943 – 1945." See
excerpt - in Danish, but with some photos.
Pilot Logie also managed to evade and he was with Murphy and Reed part of the time.
A memorial stone commemorating the fallen who are buried
in Svinø Churchyard, was
erected on Venslev Churchyard on 2 September 1945.
See Photo of Crew 68 of 755th
Squadron, 458th Bombardment Group, MACR, links to Reports, list of Missions and
account from
Pilot, 2nd Lt B.E. Logie.
This B-24 Liberator belonged to
755 BS, 458
BG, 96 CBW, 2 BD. It took off from
Royal Air Force
Station Horsham St Faith USAAF Station 123. 10 airmen.