Leonard Birchall And The Japanese Raid On Colombo

[Kyt]

A good article:

Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, Member of the Order of Canada, Member of the Order of Ontario, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Flying Cross, Canadian Forces Decoration, Officer of the United States Legion of Merit, passed away in September 2004 at the age of 89. His passing was reported in most Canadian newspapers, and all of them noted that he had been nicknamed ‘the Saviour of Ceylon’ for having spotted a Japanese fleet approaching Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 4 April 1942 while on patrol in a 413 (RCAF) Squadron Consolidated Catalina flying boat. Unfortunately, few accounts of Birchall’s actions that day paint a full picture of the combat operations in which his sighting report played an important factor. The aim of this article is to put Birchall’s discovery of the Japanese fleet into the full context of the operations conducted off and over Ceylon between 26 March and 9 April 1942.

the rest of the article can be read here:

http://www.journal.forces.ca/engraph...0-stuart_e.pdf

[morse1001]

Interesting stuff! Real "boys own" adventure!

[Kyt]

St. Catharines Standard - Ontario, CA

For 60 years, Len Birchall has been considered a hero everywhere but in his hometown.

He was named an American Eagle by the United States Legion. His death in 2004 at age 90 warranted a full-page obituary in a South African newspaper. There is a street named after him in Kingston.

After the war, in his writings British prime minister Winston Churchill called Birchall “The Saviour of Ceylon.”

But in St. Catharines, where the war hero was born, few even know his name.

“He’s honoured in the National War Museum in Ottawa, and in the RCAF in Trenton, and in Ceylon, but you’d be lucky if one out of 10 people in Niagara even knew his name,” Birchall family friend Jim Lawrason said.

But with the establishment of a committee dubbed “Honouring Niagara’s Len Birchall — Canadian Hero,” all of that is about to change.

An Oct. 3 event at Birchall’s alma mater, Connaught School, on Prince Street in St. Catharines, will see the circle in front of the school become the Len Birchall Memorial Circle. Air cadets will ceremoniously recognize Birchall’s medals and a Catalina plane from the Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton will do an honorary flyby. A new tree will be planted at Connaught commemorating Birchall, to replace the 1942 tree in his name that had never been marked and that two years ago was unceremoniously chopped down.

Two Birchall family members helped spread the word of their famous relative Thursday. Students at the District School Board of Niagara’s Historica Fair enthusiastically listened as Birchall’s daughter, Sharon Chandler, and nephew Capt. Ellis Landale told of Birchall’s adventures.

The celebrated airman had many.

Working odd jobs around St. Catharines as a boy to pay for flying lessons, the St. Catharines Collegiate graduate became Flying officer Leonard J. Birchall, RCAF when the Second World War began in 1939.

Flying a Catalina, Birchall was part of a squadron that acted as escort and watchdog, scanning the ocean below for enemy ships and submarines. During one such flight in March 1942, Birchall and his crew spotted a fleet of Japanese ships heading for a Pearl Harbour-style attack on Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon.

Birchall’s crew sent a warning transmission, attracting the attention of Japanese fighter planes that suddenly swooped down and fired on Birchall’s plane. With Birchall at the helm, the Catalina plummeted into the water with its crew inside.

Birchall and a few surviving crew members were captured and taken to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. For many captured soldiers, a trip to a Japanese camp meant death.

Allied soldiers were killed freely or literally worked to death. Birchall was made officer-in-charge at every camp he was sent to, organizing them so efficiently that his camps had the fewest Allied deaths. He saved many ill soldiers by taking their beatings. He ended up being a prisoner for about four years.

St. Catharines citizens had heard Birchall was missing in action and Connaught students planted a memorial tree.

For two years, Birchall’s wife, Dorothy, didn’t know if he was dead or alive, Chandler said.

An American soldier who made it home eventually sent word to Birchall’s family. When he finally returned home in 1945, St. Catharines held a parade for their new hero. Connaught students proudly showed Birchall his tree, which had been dubbed “in honour” of him.

Birchall received a Distinguished Flying Cross for alerting the Allies during that 1942 flight. He received the Order of the British Empire for his work at prisoner-of-war camps.

In 2000, he received the Order of Canada, and a year later was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. An honorary colonel at the Royal Military College, he was the first to receive five bars indicating 62 years of distinguished military service.

Everyone is capable of heroics, Chandler told the students at the Historica Fair.

“If you look around the room, I’m willing to bet at least one of you will become a hero, because you can be a hero in so many ways,” Chandler, 66, of Toronto, said. “Some people are heroes for just one moment in life. For others, it may be a month, or it may be for years.”

Landale, also 66 and a retired Canadian Forces captain, told students his uncle is better known in death than he was in life.

“He was a very modest man,” he said. “He was highly decorated, highly recognized and highly thoughtful but very modest.”

The Niagara Catholic District School Board also held its regional Historica Fair Thursday, displaying 108 of the best projects from school competitions.

The fair, held at Brock University, included the drum circle presentation Rhythm in the Vines, the performance group Six String Nation and day-long events celebrating Canada’s native heritage.

[Antipodean Andy]

Hope that article can lead to a book or further recognition.