Origin

Battledetective.com started out of the personal interest of Tom, the webmaster. From his parents, he inherited a fascination for World War Two in general and Operation Market Garden in particular. An exact date of when his enthusiasm started is difficult to determine, but there is evidence of Tom corresponding with renowned Dutch historian Dr. Lou de Jong of the Netherlands Royal Institute for War Documentation dating back to 1983. At age 13 Tom discovered an error in De Jong's authoritative 29-volume work "The Kingdom of the Netherlands in World War Two" and wrote the author about his findings.

Wrong caption

The caption under this photograph reads: "German Prisoners of War are taken away in Leeuwarden".
The location is the street named Demer
in Eindhoven.

Letter of appreciation

The correspondence between the historian and Tom was printed in
the 2005 compilation book with
"Letters to Dr. Lou de Jong."

The original 1983 letter

This is a scan from our archive of the prized letter from historian Dr. de Jong.

Proof that this street is actually in Eindhoven, is in our comparison photograph on this website under Now & Then, Holland.

Another example is this photograph from 1984, at the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, when Tom met veteran Oscar Mendoza of "B"Co./326th Airborne Engineer Battalion on the Drop Zone near Son and got his autograph.

 

Mendoza made a parachute jump in 1984. He became immortalized in this photograph, taken in September 1944 near the bridge in Veghel.

Mendoza was injured in his jaw but refused to be evacuated as a casualty. Instead, he commandeered a cargo bicycle and collected A4-aireal delivery bundles that were dropped to resupply the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.

His interest in World War Two never decreased and through the years, Tom did research, collected artifacts, visited battlefields and museums, attended reunions and commemorations and met

numerous WWII-veterans. 

He is a member of the Board in the Society of Dutch Airborne Friends,

member of the Friends of the Hartenstein Airborne Museum,

Associate Member of the 101st Airborne Division Association,

Member of the Donald R. Burgett Fan Club,
Red Cross Voluntary Investigator for Missing Persons of World War Two and

Honorary Citizen of Clarksville, Tennessee;

the city next to Fort Campbell, Kentucky,

home of the 101st Airborne Division.

On www.battledetective.com,the results of his research

are now on-line.

Praise for Battle Detective.com

"I would like to thank you for the absolutely outstanding work you do at battledetective.com. It is such a fascinating combination of historical scholarship and perceptive detective work. I learned much from your study of the deaths of CPT Kiley and LTC Cole."
- Author and historian Dr. John C. McManus, Missouri University of Science and Technology; June 2012 –
 

"[When] John Klein came to Normandy with Bill Galbraith and Manny Barrios to help Roger Day and me launch Tonight We Die as Men, he unwittingly introduced me to a pair of Dutch historians, Tom Timmermans and Tom Peeters, who later became my research team in Eindhoven. Despite having busy careers and their own historical websites – www.battledetective.com and www.battleatbest.com – both men are a joy to work with and have helped me shape this book into a profound and meaningful historical record, that I hope everyone who reads will understand and appreciate."
- Author and historian Ian Gardner in the Preface of his book Deliver Us From Darkness;  September 2011–
 

"... found your site to be quite interesting... "
- Professor David O'Keefe, University of Ottawa, John Abbott College, the Lester B. Pearson and English Montreal School Boards; October 2010-

"Very nice job, Tom."
- Author and historian Michel Detrez; March 2008 –
 

"Tom Timmermans is a great guy who I met at the 1st European TT Convention. [...] who conducts investigations into battle locations and artifacts, he has a website called 'Battle Detective.com'.
[…]
Mr Timmermans does do good work. This stems from his love of the subject and his because of his concern for American veterans and their families."
- Author and historian Mark A. Bando; December 2007 –

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