RCAF Aviation History: Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, CM, OBE, DFC, OOnt, CD
Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, CM, OBE, DFC, OOnt, CD
(DND Archives Photo, PL-133463)
Air Commodore Leonard Birchall, 30 May 1961.
Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, CM, OBE, DFC, OOnt, CD (6July 1915 – 10 September 2004), "The Saviour of Ceylon", was an RCAFofficer who warned of a Japanese attack on the island of Ceylon during theSecond World War. On 4 Apr 1942, S/L Leonard J. Birchall and crew of a Consolidated Catalina with No. 413Squadron RCAF, sighted a large Japanese naval force steamingto attack Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and gave the Allied defence network warning. The Catalina was shot down with three killedand the rest taken prisoner. S/L Birchall was awarded the DFC for this action
Birchall was born in St. Catharines, Ontario andgraduated from St. Catharines Collegiate. He was always interested in flyingand worked odd jobs around St. Catharines to pay for flying lessons. Afterserving in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS), Birchall enrolled as a cadet at the Royal Military Collegeof Canada in Kingston, Ontario (student No. 2364) in 1933. He was commissionedin the RCAF upon graduation in 1937 and was trained as a pilot.
At the outbreak of the Second WorldWar in 1939, Flying Officer Birchall flew convoy and anti-submarine patrols fromNova Scotia flying with No. 5 Squadron RCAF. The squadron was equipped with theSupermarine Stranraer.
On 10 June 1940, Birchall was responsible for the capture of an Italianmerchant ship, the Capo Nola, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, hours afterCanada declared war on Italy. Birchall had been tasked with locating any Italianvessels still in Canadian waters as the outbreak of war became imminent, and onthat date, he found the Capo Nola. Birchall had been informed of the declaration of war byradio so made a low pass over the freighter, as if making an attack. Thispanicked the captain into running his vessel aground against a sandbank.Birchall then touched down nearby and waited untilRoyal Canadian Navy vessels reached the scene. The Capo Nola's crew werethe first Italian prisoners taken by the Allies during the war.
In early 1942, he joined No. 413Squadron RCAF, then based in the Shetland Islands and flew patrols over theNorth Sea. After the Japanese successes in southeast Asia, the squadron wassent to Ceylon to provide a reconnaissance force.
(DND Photo)
Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall in his Catalina,Ceylon, 1942.
On 4 April 1942, only two days afterhis arrival, Squadron Leader Birchall was flying a PBY Catalina flying boat (SerialNo. AJ155), coded QL-A, which was patrolling the ocean to the south of Ceylon.Nine hours into the mission, as the plane was about to return to base, shipswere spotted on the horizon. Investigation revealed a large Japanese fleet, theNagumo Task Force (Responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbour), including fiveaircraft carriers, heading for Ceylon, which at that time was the base for theRoyal Navy's Eastern Fleet. Birchall's crew managed to send out aradio message, but the Catalina was soon shot down by six A6M2 Zero fightersfrom the carrier Hiryū.
The Japanese continued to strafe thewreck seriously wounding Sergeant John Henzell in the front turret. He was lostwhen the aircraft sank along with Warrant Officer Lucien "Louis"Colarossi. The Japanese continued their attack on those survivors in the waterkilling Sgt. Davidson. The remaining six crew members were eventually picked upby the Japanese destroyer Isokaze.
The Easter Sunday Raid went aheaddespite Birchall's signal, but his warning putthe defenders on alert and allowed the harbour to be partially cleared beforethe Japanese attacked Colombo. Birchall and his surviving crewmembers spent the restof the war as prisoners of war. For manycaptured servicemen, a trip to a Japanese camp meant death.
As the senior Allied officer in foursuccessive Japanese prisoner of war camps, the resistance led by Birchall helped to reduce the Allied death rate from anaverage of 30% to less than 2%. During his time in the prison camps, herepeatedly stood up to the Japanese and demanded fair treatment of the prisoners,in compliance with the Geneva Convention. In his first camp, he struck aJapanese soldier who was forcing a wounded Australian to work. This earnedBirchall a severe beating and solitary confinement, butwon him the respect of the other prisoners. In 1944, Birchall encountered a situation in which sick men werebeing forced to work on the docks. He ordered all of the men to stop workinguntil the sick were excused. Birchall was beaten and sent to a special disciplinecamp, where he again was beaten. He saved many ill soldiers by taking theirbeatings.
Birchall was liberated on 27 August 1945 by Americantroops. His wife Dorothy had not known whether he was dead or alive for two years.His diaries, written during his captivity and buried, formed the basis of anumber of Allied wartime trials at which Birchall testified.
In the immediate postwar years,Birchall served on the Canadian attaché staff inWashington, D.C., then was a member of the Canadian NATO delegation in Paris.He later commanded a fighter base and was the commandant of the Royal MilitaryCollege of Canada from 1963 until his retirement from the Canadian Forces in 1967.He retired from the RCAF rather than be associated with the unification of theArmed Forces. He later served as honorary colonel of No. 400 TacticalHelicopter and Training Squadron and No. 413 Squadron in the Air Reserve.
From 1967 to 1982 Birchall was chief executive and administrative officerof the Faculty of Administrative Studies at York University, which awarded himthe degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa on the occasion of his retirement in1982. In the 1994 general election in Sri Lanka, Birchall was an official observer. Birchall died in Kingston, Ontario at the age of 89.
Birchall was made an Officer of the Order of theBritish Empire (OBE) in 1946, after his return to Canada for his work in the prisoner of war camps. His citation:
In April 1942, this officer was shotdown and captured after sending out the warning from his patrolling seaplanethat a large force of Japanese warships was approaching Ceylon. Throughout histhree and a half years as a prisoner of war Wing Commander Birchall as Senior Allied Officer in the prisoner ofwar camps in which he was located continually displayed the utmost concern forthe welfare of his fell ow prisoners. On many occasions with complete disregardfor his own safety he prevented as far as possible Japanese officials of variouscamps from sadistically beating his men and denying prisoners the medical attentionwhich they so urgently needed. Typical of his splendid gallantry was when inthe Niigato Camp he called a sit-down strike in protest against ill treatmentof his men. On another occasion when the Japanese wanted to send some sick prisonersof war to work Wing Commander Birchall found it necessary at great personal risk to forciblyprevent the Japanese non commissioned officer in charge from making these prisonerswork. As a result, Wing Commander Birchall spent several days in solitary confinement. Nevertheless,the sick prisoners of war did not have to work. Knowing that each time heforcibly intervened on behalf of his men he would receive brutal punishment WingCommander Birchall continually endeavoured to improve the lot of hisfellow prisoners. He also maintained detailed records of personnel in his campsalong with death certificates of deceased personnel. The consistent gallantry andglowing devotion to his fellow prisoners of war that this officer displayed throughouthis lengthy period of imprisonment are in keeping with the finest traditions ofthe Royal Canadian Air Force.
Birchall was also awarded the Distinguished FlyingCross (DFC) for his part in detecting the attack on Ceylon and for alerting theAllies during that 1942 flight. The presentation was made on 29 April 1946 atthe Embassy of Ceylon in Washington, D.C. Hume Wrong, the Canadian Ambassadorto the United States, presented the OBE and the DFC to Birchall, in the presence of theAmbassador of Ceylon, Sir Claude Corea.
When citizens of his hometown, St.Catharines, Ontario, heard Birchall was missing in action, students of Connaughtschool planted a memorial tree. The Len Birchall Memorial Circle is also in St. Catharines. In1950, U.S. President Harry Truman appointed Birchall an Officer of the Legion of Merit, saying:"His exploits became legendary throughout Japan and brought renewed faithand strength to many hundreds of ill and disheartened prisoners."
In 2000, Birchall was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.In 2001, he was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. He was an honorarycolonel at the Royal Military College of Canada. Birchall was the only member of the Canadian militaryto have earned five clasps for his Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD), representing62 years of service with the air force. The only other person with five claspswas Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
As a recipient of the 2001 Vimy Award,Birchall was recognized as a Canadian who made asignificant and outstanding contribution to the defence and security of Canadaand the preservation of Canada's democratic values. He was also honoured for hisyears of service to the community, including building a facility in 1993 at aKingston Girl Guide camp at his own cost.
The Leonard Birchall Sports pavilion at the Royal Military Collegeof Canada, in the area of the Navy Bay sports fields, was constructed in hishonour, from December 2008 to September 2009. The road leading to the terminaland hangars at Kingston's Norman Rogers Airport is named Len Birchall Way. Birchall was honoured in 2009 as one of the 100 mostinfluential Canadians in aviation and had his name emblazoned directly behindthe starboard roundel on the fuselage with the others on the 2009 CF-118Centennial of Flight demonstration Hornet.
His widow Kathleen Birchall donated money to the Air Cadet League ofCanada to set up a scholarship in his name. On 9 November 2011, No. 883 AirCommodore Leonard Birchall Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadetsbased in Markham, Ontario was formed. In 2011, Air Commodore Birchall's name was also added to thewall of honour at the Royal Military College of Canada.
