Leonard Birchall And The Japanese Raid On Colombo

Kyt · Oct 25, 2007

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.
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the rest of the article can be read here:

http://www.journal.forces.ca/engraph/Vol7/no4/PDF/10-stuart_e.pdf

morse1001 · Oct 25, 2007

Interesting stuff! Real "boys own" adventure!

Kyt · May 3, 2008

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.
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Antipodean Andy · May 4, 2008

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

Kyt · Nov 10, 2008

Aviation.ca - Your Number One Source for Canadian Aviation News, Jobs and Information! - Air Commodore Len Birchall recognized

The Saviour of Ceylon has become the hero of St. Catharines. The southwestern Ontario town where Air Commodore Len Birchall was born and went to school in the early part of this century has officially recognized him for his wartime service and sacrifice.

In a moving ceremony on the grounds of Connaught Public School, members of the Birchall family, school children, politicians and dignitaries gathered to honour the man named by Sir Winston Churchill as the "Saviour of Ceylon."

A/C Commodore Birchall had more impact on the outcome of the Second World War than almost any other Canadian, yet many Canadians have never even heard of him, including many from his hometown.

As a young Squadron Leader flying his first reconnaissance mission over the tiny island of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) on April 4, 1942, S/L Birchall spotted a huge Japanese strike force headed for the British base. He managed to get a message through to the base alerting personnel of the impending attack. The attack went ahead despite S/L Birchall's signal, but because of him the British were prepared and inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese. These losses later had repercussions both in the battle of the Coral Sea and again in the battle of Midway.

Sir Winston Churchill later described the incident as the "most dangerous moment" of the entire Second World War. S/L Birchall and his fellow crewmembers were shot down and taken captive by the Japanese who interred them for the following four years. As the senior Allied officer in four successive Japanese POW camps, the resistance he led decreased the Allied death rate from an average of 30 per cent to less then two per cent. His secret diaries, hidden in the muddy walls of the camps, formed the basis of a number of Allied wartime trials at which S/L Birchall testified. Stories abound of his heroism and selflessness: often refusing food in favour of the enlisted men under his command in the camps, risking his own life to assault Japanese guards for hurting his men and going before a firing squad three times, each time escaping death.

Retired St. Catharines' entrepreneur, Jim Lawrason, organized the event and rallied members of the community and the Department of Veterans Affairs to fund the event. A Second World War Catalina flying boat (the same kind flown by S/L Birchall before being shot down) flew over Connaught Public School as children formed the letters "P.O.W." on the football field, similar to the signal S/L Birchall had his men create to warn American air crews that they were captives below. There was a plaque unveiling and tree planting, as well as the unveiling of a beatiful garden known as the "Len Birchall Memorial Circle."

"Len Birchall became a legend for standing up for his men and a real source of hope among POWs," event organizer Jim Lawrason, and friend of A/C Birchall's nephew, Captain Ellis Landale (an Army Officer in the Canadian Forces) told the St. Catharines Standard newspaper.

"When I learned of how few people in St. Catharines actually knew of the sacrifices made by this incredible Canadian, I knew we had to do something."

The group hopes by commemorating the life and accomplishments of A/C Birchall in his hometown, word will spread across Canada and more people will want to learn about his life and legacy.

A/C Birchall continued to serve in the Air Force after the war and went on to become the only member of the Canadian military to have earned five bars on his Canadian Forces Decoration having served 62 years as a member of the Regular Force and an Honorary Colonel for 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron, located at 14 Wing Greenwood. The only other person with five bars was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. A bar is awarded for every 10 years of subsequent service.

A/C Birchall died in 2004 in Kingston, Ontario at the age of 89.
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