Another warrior passes....Len Birchall..

Hi ... I just came across this story while chcking
out Canoe News site ... I remembered your post Alex ... so here's the news articlee... Carman

Vets honour 'Canadian hero'
By DEREK PUDDICOMBE -- Sun Media






OTTAWA -- Once described by
British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill as the "Saviour of
Ceylon," Canadian war hero Len
Birchall was remembered
yesterday by a handful of local
vets. Ramsay Brown made the
journey to Kingston to remember
his friend and hero who passed
away last week after losing a
battle with lung cancer. Birchall
was

"Birch will never be forgotten,"
said Brown, a member of the
Manotick Legion who, along with
other veterans, hosts an annual
Burma Star Association luncheon
each year in honour of those who served in Southeast Asia during World War II.

In April 1942, Birchall was piloting a Catalina amphibious aircraft patrolling the
coastline when he and his eight-member crew spotted the Japanese fleet
steaming towards Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka.

Before being shot down and spending the rest of the war as a POW, he alerted
the Allies.

"The most important single event of the war was that message getting through,"
said Brown, 80, who also flew Catalinas and was stationed in Ceylon. "The
(Allies) repelled the attack and the Japs never returned to the Indian Ocean. If
they had got through they would have met up with the Germans in North Africa
and surrounded all of Russia."

It wasn't until after the war in 1956 that Brown and Birchall first met.

"I was a pilot at the Canadian HQ in London and he worked with NATO in Paris,"
said Brown. "I flew into Paris and he met us when we arrived."

They remained friends and Brown last saw Birchall in Smiths Falls about three
months ago during a luncheon.

"He's a Canadian hero," said Brown.