Agterkamp, Jan Willem, born 24-12-1907 in Steenderen, 
Jan lived with his parents in Steenderen in September 1941. On the night of 7 September, Jan, together with his brother Gerrit and Bernard Hermanus Besselink, 
helped two wounded crew members of a downed British bomber, Richard Bernard Pape 
(17-03-191 / 6/9-06-1995) and Jock Moir. With the help of resistance fighters in Amsterdam and Leiden, the return of Pape and Moir to England was prepared
Bernard and Jan, both 33 years old are neighbours and live between Toldijk and Keijenborg. Bernhard, father of three young children, is a farmer, Jan worked as a journalist but has been living with his parents since the beginning of the war. After all sorts of detours, the crashed and injured English pilots Richard Pape and Jock Moir end up with Bernard, they are allowed to stay in his barn. But because Bernard does not speak English, communication with the British is difficult. So he calls in the help of Jan, who does speak the language.
The pilots are part of the eight-man crew of a Stirling bomber. 
In the night of 7 to 8 September 1941, they have to bomb one of Hermann Göring‘s 
headquarters in Berlin.
On the evening of September 6, 1941 at 21:00 hours, seven large bombers of the 15th B.Squadron took off from the Wyton base in England. They were the relatively new four-engine Short Stirlings, the pride of the Royal Air Force. Enormous aircraft (not for nothing called “Flying Fortresses”), 35 meters long and with a wingspan of 42 meters! The bomb load per aircraft was 11 x 500 pound bombs. On board one of these aircraft were the main characters of our story. The target of this bomber alone was one of the headquarters of Herman Göring’s air defense in Berlin.
Anti-aircraft guns near Berlin hit one of the engines, but the pilot manages to keep the plane under control and in the air until all engines fail above the Achterhoek. Richard Pape decides to make an improvised emergency landing, with the plane diving just above the church tower of Zieuwent. The Stirling crashes 
in a meadow near Hengelo, the crew tries to reach safety on their own.
The Germans quickly realize that an allied plane has crashed and that there are only four wounded crew members in the plane, the rest have disappeared. They comb the area and a number of crew members report to the Germans, after a few days it becomes quieter. Pape and Moir want to return to England, even when it turns out that they have crashed a long way from the coast. Agterkamp has worked as a journalist in Amsterdam for a while and therefore has connections with resistance circles in the capital. He travels to Amsterdam to arrange for the pilots to escape via the coast and he succeeds. After spending ten days with the Besselink family, Agterkamp takes the men to Zutphen station by bike on September 26. There he hands Pape and Moir over to a man from the Amsterdam resistance.
Pape and Moir are on their way to Katwijk via Amsterdam, Laren and Leiden, but things go wrong in Leiden. The pilots and the resistance fighters who help them turn out to have been betrayed and are arrested by the Germans. After heavy interrogations, they also end up in Toldijk, where they capture Jan Agterkamp and Bernard Besselink on 26-09-1941. The men are taken to the Oranjehotel, in Scheveningen., 
a notorious prison for resistance fighters in Scheveningen. Achterkamp makes a drawing of their cell.
Death and burial ground of Agterkamp, Jan Willem.
The men are sentenced to death for helping the enemy. The sentence is carried out on 17-11-1941. Shortly before that, they write their last words for their relatives in a Bible. They were shot by the Germans in the dunes of Waalsdorp in Scheveningen. 
Jock Moir and Richard Pape survive the war, Pape even writes several books about his experiences. The Dutch translation also takes him to Steenderen in 1954. There he lays a wreath at the monument in memory of Agterkamp and Besselink. ‘In grateful memory of Bernard Besselink and Jan Agterkamp. Bernard Hermanus Besselink
There is no better proof to show his love, loyalty and friendship, than to sacrifice his life for his fatherland and his friends. Richard Pape and William Moir of the Royal Air Force.’ 
Richard Pape died in Canberra, Australia in 1995 at the age of 79.
Jan Willem Agterkamp is buried at the local cemetery of Steenderen. Burgemeester Heersinkstraat 2, 7221 BZ Steenderen, Netherlands.
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