Canada. The Memorial Grouping Of Rcaf Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall; The Saviour Of Ceylon

ERII Memorial Cross (BIRCHALL. L. WO / C 775). Naming is hand engraved on the reverse, suspended from a pinback hanger, with a fine link chain and pinback attached. The memorial cross is confirmed in service records. Accompanied by Royal Canadian Air Force Sweetheart Wings (two-piece construction, 10K Gold with blue enamels and four inset glass stones, maker marked "BIRKS", marked "10K" (Gold) and "F", and hand engraved "130 -1- 250" on the reverse, marked "B10K" (Birks 10K Gold) on the catch, 17.2 mm x 54 mm. horizontal pinback); an Air Cadet League of Canada Commemorative Clock (brass casing, with a stainless steel back, functioning, the face of the clock marked "CSI SWISS" with an Air Cadet League of Canada insignia in the centre, with black hour and minute hands, large gold-coloured Roman numerals, outer ring marked in five minute intervals, glass crystal, engraved on the back "IN FOND REMEMBRANCE A/C LEONARD & KATHLEEN BIRCHALL AWARD / SCHOLARSHIP FUND", with winding stem on the right side, suspended from dual swivel rings, fixed to a raised circular frame which is affixed to three posts, on a full swivel base with black felt underside, 72.5 mm at the base x 61.8 mm in height); a Marble Plaque (black marble, engraved with image of a building, inscribed "In commemorative of the historic 70th Reunion of the Class of 1941" above and "September 9th, 2011" below, 100.5 mm x 100.5 mm x 10.5 mm); a Canadian Warplane Heritage Pen Set (acrylic, transparent face with the image of a Lancaster in red featured, a Canadian maple leaf pin at the upper left and base for the pen with functioning pen in the holder at the upper right, inscribed "CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGE" below, black base, a nameplate affixed to the transparent face between the pin and pen base inscribed "L. J. Birchall with thanks 433 Wing Renfrew JUNE 1/85", acrylic base measuring 92 mm x 107 mm x 22 mm); a Royal Military College of Canada Shell Pen (brass casing with synthetic nose housing a functioning pen, RMC insignia on the front, inscribed "New 18 Society" below the insignia and "W2364 / Kathleen Birchall" on the reverse, marked "L C O 7" on the bottom, 20.2 mm x 141 mm); a Chief of the Air Staff Commemorative Coin (gold-coloured metal with red and navy blue enamels, coin given to his wife, Kathleen Birchall, by General Lucas on May 7, 2006, at Trenton, Ontario, 38 mm, in a protective plastic casing, with a note from Kathleen Birchall confirming its origin); and a Canadian Forces "Rescued by 413 Squadron" Commemorative Coin (gold-coloured metal with red and navy blue enamels, coin given to his wife, Kathleen Birchall, by Lieutenant-Colonel Thibault at Christmas 2004, 40.3 mm, accompanied by a Christmas Card from Thibault and a slip of paper describing the medal in detail). Extremely fine. Accompanied by copy of Birchall's service records. Footnote: Air Commodore Leonard Joseph Birchall, CM, OBE, DFC, O.Ont, CD, known as "The Saviour of Ceylon", was a Canadian Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) officer. Birchall warned of a Japanese attack on the island of Ceylon during the Second World War. He was born on July 6, 1915 in St. Catharines, Ontario and graduated from St. Catharines Collegiate. He served in the Lincoln Regiment from 1932 to 1933 and was always interested in flying, working at odd jobs around St. Catharines to pay for flying lessons. After serving in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, Birchall enrolled as a Cadet at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario (student #2364) in 1933. He was transferred to the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in 1934, followed by a commissioning in the Royal Canadian Air Force upon graduation on July 5, 1937 and was trained as a pilot, receiving his wings on May 20, 1938 and posted to No.5 (BR) Squadron, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Flying Officer Birchall flew convoy and anti-submarine patrols from Nova Scotia flying with No. 5 Squadron, the squadron equipped with the Supermarine Stranraer, becoming a Signal specialist with Eastern Air Command Headquarters in 1940. On June 10, 1940, Birchall was responsible for the capture of an Italian merchant ship, the Capo Nola, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, hours after Canada declared war on Italy. Birchall had been tasked with locating any Italian vessels still in Canadian waters as the outbreak of war became imminent. On June 10th, he found the Capo Nola. Birchall had been informed of the declaration of war by radio so made a low pass over the freighter, as if making an attack. This panicked the captain into running his vessel aground against a sandbank. Birchall then touched down nearby and waited until Royal Canadian Navy vessels reached the scene. The Capo Nola's crew were the first Italian prisoners taken by the Allies during the war. He was Chief Navigation Officer at No.2 Training Command in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1941, before being posted to No.413 Squadron in the Shetland Islands off Scotland in early 1942, flying patrols over the North Sea. After the Japanese successes in southeast Asia, the squadron was sent to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), to provide a reconnaissance force. Admiral Sir James Somerville had taken up command as Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Fleet, two days before being alerted by intelligence sources to the probability of a Japanese attack on Ceylon on April 1, 1942. Fearful of the Pearl Harbor fiasco being repeated, Somerville dispersed some of his forces, and ordered air patrols to search for the enemy fleet. On April 4, 1942, only two days after his arrival, Squadron Leader Birchall was flying a PBY Catalina flying boat that was patrolling the ocean to the south of Ceylon. Nine hours into the mission, as the plane was about to return to base, ships were spotted on the horizon, 350 miles south-east of Ceylon. Realizing that he had found the Japanese strike force, Birchall closed to observe that the fleet included five aircraft carriers, heading for Ceylon, which at that time was the base for the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet. Almost immediately his lumbering flying boat was attacked by eighteen fighters. A sighting message was hastily coded and transmitted to base before cannon fire destroyed the Catalina's radio, the aircraft soon shot down by six A6M2 Zero fighters from the carrier Hiryū. The aircraft was then set on fire and as Birchall landed on the sea, the tail broke off. Two of the crew were seriously injured and went down with the aircraft. As the survivors swam away from the burning fuel, the radio operator was killed by machine-gun fire in the water. All six of the survivors were wounded, three of them seriously, when they were picked up by the destroyer Isokaza. Birchall's signal was garbled on arrival in Ceylon, and requests for amplification went unanswered. However, it gave the clear impression that invasion was imminent. The defences were alerted and forty-eight ships, including the aircraft carrier Hermes, sailed from Colombo and Trincomalee. The Easter Sunday Raid went ahead despite Birchall’s signal, but his warning put the defenders on alert and allowed the harbour to be partially cleared before the Japanese attacked Colombo. The British suffered considerable losses, but the Japanese fleet retreated. Ceylon suffered no further attacks. Once on board Isokaza, Birchall was singled out as the senior officer, and beaten by his captors in an effort to find out if a radio message had been sent. He steadfastly denied that any such report had been sent, and resisted all attempts to extract information. The badly injured crew were put in a damp lock-up, with room for only the three most badly wounded to lie down. After three days, they were transferred to the carrier Akagi, flagship of the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, before landing at Yokohama, Japan, where the injured were given good treatment. Birchall and his three other crew were taken to the town prison, where they were poorly fed before all the crew were eventually reunited. After five months they were the first inmates at a new camp in the mountains near Yokohama, where 250 Commonwealth prisoners from Hong Kong and 75 Americans from the Philippines soon joined them. The prisoners had been so badly let down by their officers in previous camps that they proved extremely troublesome, however, Birchall, now assuming the role of Senior Allied Officer at the PoW work camp in Yokohama, quickly instituted a strict code of discipline. During his time in the PoW camps, he 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 insisting that a badly wounded Australian should join a working party. Birchall was severely beaten and placed in solitary confinement where he suffered great privation, but won him the respect of the other PoWs. In early 1944, Birchall and others were moved to another camp, where sick men were being forced to work on the docks until they collapsed. In protest, Birchall ordered the men to stop working and sit down, until the sick were excused from work. Birchall was beaten, the guards flaying him with clubs and rifle butts, then sent him to a special discipline camp, where he again was beaten senseless and left without food and water for days. He saved many ill soldiers by taking their beatings. In June 1945, Birchall and 200 prisoners were sent to a camp near Mount Fuji. When three men died of malnutrition, he organized "stealing teams" to raid local farms for fresh vegetables to provide the essential vitamins, with no more deaths being recorded. For most of his time in captivity, Birchall kept detailed diaries of camp life, recording deaths and maltreatment by Japanese guards. He completed twenty-two diaries, which were kept hidden. "If they are found," he told a friend at the time, "I am for the chop." For many captured servicemen, a trip to a Japanese camp meant death. As the senior Allied officer in four successive Japanese prisoner of war camps, the resistance led by Birchall helped to reduce the Allied death rate from an average of 30% to less than 2%. Birchall was liberated on August 27, 1945 by American troops and after his release, he stopped off in Manila, where he left eight of his diaries with instructions on how to find the remaining fourteen, which were wrapped in oilcloth and buried at one of the camps. He returned to Canada in October 1945, his wife, Dorothy, not having known whether he was dead or alive for two years. When citizens of his hometown, St. Catharines, Ontario heard Birchall was missing in action, students of Connaught school planted a memorial tree. He served as Director of Personnel Administration at Allied Force Headquarters in 1946. C-775 Acting Flight Squadron Leader Leonard Joseph Birchall, Royal Canadian Air Force, No. 413 Squadron, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the announcement appearing in the Supplement to the London Gazette 36017 of Friday, May 14, 1943, on Tuesday, May 18, 1943, page 2200. He was awarded the DFC for his part in detecting the attack on Ceylon and for alerting the Allies during that 1942 flight. Birchall was dubbed the "Saviour of Ceylon" by the Canadian press and not, as claimed by many, by Winston Churchill. Birchall was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946, after his return to Canada for his work at prisoner of war camps. The citation, in part, reads: "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". His own flight engineer, Brian Catlin, who spent much of the time with him as a PoW, echoed the feelings of many when he said: "There are many alive today who would not have survived withoutBirchall." The presentations of both awards were made on April 29, 1946 at the Embassy of Ceylon in Washington, D.C. by Hume Wrong, the Canadian Ambassador to the United States, who presented the OBE and the DFC to LeonardBirchall, in the presence of the Ambassador of Ceylon, Sir Claude Corea. His twenty-two diaries, written during his captivity, were used in evidence by the prosecution, forming the basis of a number of Allied War Crime Trials at whichBirchall testified, as part of the U.S. Prosecuting Team in Japan in 1947. At a formal dinner in Washington in 1947, Winston Churchill declared that Birchall's courage in helping to foil the Japanese invasion was "one of the most important single contributions to Allied victory". As a Group Captain he became Assistant Attache to the Canadian Joint Staff in Washington in 1948. In 1950, U.S. 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.", the announcement of the award appearing in AFRO 443/50 of September 8, 1950. His citation reads as follows: "Group Captain Leonard J. Birchall, Royal Canadian Air Force, distinguished himself by exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services from 4 April 1942 to 20 June 1950. As Senior Officer in the Japanese Prisoner of War Camp at Yokohama, Group Captain (then Wing Commander) Birchall worked tirelessly and fearlessly to improve the physical and mental welfare of British, American and Canadian prisoners under his command. His exploits became legendary throughout Japan and brought renewed faith and strength to many hundreds of ill and disheartened prisoners. Subsequent to his liberation he contributed information and material of inestimable value in connection with war crimes investigations. More recently, as Deputy to the Air Member, Canadian Joint Staff, Washington, D.C., Group Captain Birchall has constantly demonstrated a superior understanding of the relationship between the United States Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force and his sound judgement, tact and unfailing spirit of cooperation have materially assisted the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, Canada-United States in the accomplishment of its mission." Upon leaving Washington, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Goose Air Base Station at Goose Bay, Newfoundland in 1950, then transferred to Air Material Command Headquarters in 1952, where he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal on October 23, 1953 while Group Captain. He was named as part of the Canadian NATO Delegation in Paris in 1954 and was Commanding Officer of the RCAF Station at North Bay, Ontario in 1958. Birchall was promoted to Air Commodore in 1960 and was made Chief of Operations at Allied Force Headquarters. He was named Commandant of the Royal Military College in Kingston Ontario in 1963 and retired from the RCAF in 1967, rather than be associated with the unification of the Armed Forces. From 1967 to 1982, Birchall was chief executive and administrative officer of the Faculty of Administrative Studies at York University in Toronto, which awarded him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa on the occasion of his retirement in 1982. He later served as Honourary Colonel of 400 Tactical Helicopter and Training Squadron and was named Honourary Colonel of 413 Squadron in the Air Reserve in June 1989. Even when Honourary Colonel of No 413 Squadron, Birchall expressed insistence of wearing the light blue mess kit of the RCAF. That same year, he was named to the Order of Ontario. In the 1994 general election in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Birchall acted as the Canadian official observer, and while there, he was struck by the poverty of its hospitals. At his own expense, he arranged for eight tons of medical supplies to be sent to the country. He also organized visits to the war cemeteries in Sri Lanka and a memorial at No 413's wartime Ceylon base. One veteran commented: "Birch is still looking after his men." Birchall received the fifth clasp for service to the Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD) in 1996 and is the only member of the Canadian military to have earned five clasps, representing sixty-two years' service with the air force. The only other person with five clasps to the CFD was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1999, inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2000 and inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 2001. As a recipient of the 2001 Vimy Award, Birchall was recognized as a Canadian who made a significant and outstanding contribution to the defence and security of Canada and the preservation of Canada's democratic values. Twice a widower, Leonard Joseph Birchall died on September 10, 2004 in Kingston, Ontario, at the age of 89, survived by his third wife Kathleen "Kay" Birchall, along with two daughters and a son from his first marriage. He was remembered in many ways after his death: the Leonard Birchall Sports Pavilion at the Royal Military College of Canada was constructed in his honour, from December 2008 to September 2009; the road leading to the terminal and hangars at Kingston's Norman Rogers Airport was named Len Birchall Way; he was honoured in 2009 as one of the 100 most influential Canadians in aviation; and had his name emblazoned directly behind the starboard roundel on the fuselage with the others on the 2009 CF-18 Centennial of Flight demonstration Hornet. His widow Kathleen Birchall donated money to the Air Cadet League of Canada, in order to set up a scholarship in his name. On November 9, 2011, 883 Air Commodore Leonard Birchall Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets based in Markham, Ontario was formed. Air Commodore Birchall's name was also added to the Wall of Honour at the Royal Military College of Canada in 2011. (C:91)