Leonard Birchall
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Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, CM, OBE, DFC, O.Ont, CD (July 6, 1915 - September 10, 2004 ), "The Saviour of Ceylon"
Leonard Joseph Birchall was born on July 6, 1915, in St. Catharines, Ontario. He served in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, then, in 1937, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force to train as a pilot. After the start of World War II, he flew convoy and anti-submarine patrols from Nova Scotia. In early 1942, he joined 413 Squadron, then based in the Shetland Islands and flew patrols over the North Sea. After the Japanese successes in South-East Asia, the squadron was sent to Ceylon to provide a reconnaissance force.
On April 4, 1942, only two days after arrival, Squadron Leader Birchall was flying a Royal Air Force Catalina flying boat that was patrolling the ocean to the south of Ceylon. Eight hours into the mission, as the plane was about to return to base, the lookouts spotted ships on the horizon. Investigation revealed a large Japanese fleet, including five aircraft carriers, headed for Ceylon, which at that time was the base for the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet. Birchall's crew managed to send out a radio message, but the Catalina was soon shot down. Three crewmen were killed and the others, including Birchall, spent the rest of the war as prisoners. The attack went ahead despite 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.
Birchall’s heroism did not end with that exploit. As the senior Allied officer in four successor Japanese POW camps the resistance he lead decreased the Allied death rate from an average of 30% to less than 2%. His diaries written during his captivity and buried, formed the basis of a number of Allied wartime trials at which Birchall testified.
Writing after the war, Winston Churchill called Birchall the "Saviour of Ceylon" and said that if the British fleet had been defeated at Ceylon, then North Africa would have been lost to the Germans.
During his time in the Japanese prisoner of war (POW) camps, Birchall repeatedly stood up to the Japanese and demanded fair treatment of the prisoners, in compliance with the Geneva Convention. In his first camp, he struck a Japanese soldier who was forcing a wounded Australian to work. This earned Birchall a severe beating and solitary confinement, but won him the respect of the other POWs. While in the camps, Birchall kept a set of diaries that detailed deaths and mistreatment by the guards. In 1944, Birchall encountered a situation in which sick men were being forced to work on the docks. He ordered all of the men to stop working until the sick were excused. Birchall was beaten and sent to a special discipline camp, where he again was beaten. He was liberated on August 27, 1945 by American troops.
Birchall was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946, after his return to Canada. The citation, in part, read: "he continually displayed the utmost concern for the welfare of fellow prisoners with complete disregard for his own safety. His consistent gallantry and glowing devotion to his men were in keeping with the finest traditions of the service". He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in detecting the attack on Ceylon.
In 1950, US President Harry Truman appointed Birchall an officer of the Legion of Merit, saying: "His exploits became legendary throughout Japan and brought renewed faith and strength to many hundreds of ill and disheartened prisoners."
Birchall was a member of the prosecuting team at the Japanese war crime trials. His diaries were used in evidence. He served on the Canadian attaché staff in Washington, D.C., then was a member of the Canadian NATO delegation in Paris. He commanded a fighter base and later was commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada. He retired from the RCAF in 1967, rather than be associated with the unification of the Armed Forces. He later served as honorary colonel of 413 Squadron in the Air Reserve.
He was an official observer during Sri Lanka's general election of 1994. Birchall was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999.
He was the only member of the Canadian military to have earned five clasps for his Canadian Forces Decoration (CD), representing 62 years of service with the air force. The only other person with five clasps was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Birchall died in Kingston, Ontario at the age of 89.
