Pieter Cramerus & Bob Jamison

                                       THE FLYING DUTCHMAN: REALLY
                                                                              By Bob Jamison

          No it isn’t the opera nor is it a Dutch sea Captain seeking eternal life of love while sailing the curse of the seas. This is a true story, though quite brief, that depicts the epic adventures of a Dutch fighter pilot.

          Was it a charmed life while often facing certain death or was it cunning determination in the ocean of luck? I prefer to think it might be a little of both but mostly the first.

          Pieter Adrian Camerus was born in the island district of the Dutch East Indies. This area was best known as the principal location of the Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands recently. His father and mother had moved there to pursue the fortunes in the rubber plantations. When his father passed away, he and his mother moved back to Holland. Eventually, after studying in Switzerland he returned to Holland to enroll in medical school.

          War with Japan, especially in the rich oil fields of Indonesia, was looming in the news. Cramerus quit the University and joined the Royal Dutch Air Force. He began flying against the Japanese before the U. S. entered the war.

          His plane was badly shot up by a Zero but he walked away from an emergency landing in Java. That was one of three in this amazing feat of a highly decorated hero during the WWII era.

          Upon the invasion of Java by the Japanese, he was captured along with his commanding officer. He escaped but the other didn’t survive his recapture.

          Desperate to save the Dutch pilots, a Dutch Dakota DC-3 cargo plane was waiting to fly selected persons to Australia. Along were some VIP persons. They left during a heavy rain storm of crashing thunder and the flash of Japanese artillery gunfire. The large cargo plane was piloted by a Russian ace of WWI, Ivan Smirnoff.

          All night they flew over the Indian Ocean in complete radio silence. As they approached Broom, Australia at sun up, they could see great plums of black smoke. The city was under siege by Japanese fighters and bombers. Two Zeros shot their unarmed plane down on the beach front killing or wounding most on board.

          Cramerus was wounded in the shoulder and scalp but sought help for the others in the Outback’s blistering heat and waterless terrain. At the point of total exhaustion, a member of the feared Aborigines tribes found him and gave him water and kangaroo meat, then the native went for help.

          His training in flying continued in fighters in which he flew the rest of WWII in the famed Royal Air Force of England against the Nazis. He flew in excess of four hundred combat sorties and was to be shot down only one more time when a German 88 pulverized his Spitfire; but he again made a forced landing in friendly hands.

          Cramerus became an American Citizen after WWII and lived an interesting life in Houston. Then he owned a ski lodge (himself an excellent skier) and ultimately retired on a ranch in Montana to pursue his love for fly fishing and bird shooting. Now he resides in Denver, Colorado.

          Recently, an interesting book, DIAMOND DAKOTA MYSTERY by Juliet Wills includes his story. A Dutch news specialist has recently come to Denver for a special interview. A movie could develop from either.

          On July l6, 2008 we helped Pieter Cramerus celebrate his 92nd birthday. Now, every bit a conservative American who enjoys watching Brit Hume on Fox evening news, he remains active with a quick wit and an amazing recall of some of his best memories. Of course, most of these stories include little of what really happened up until l945. But we know and as Oliver North would say, “That’s a story that ought to be told.”