Birkland, Henry (Flight Lieutenant)

Prisoner of War Executed 1944-March-25

Flight Lieutenant Henry Birkland RCAF

Birth Date: 1917-August-16

Born: Caldwell, Manitoba

Parents: Son of Kristian Martin and Berthilde (nee Johnson) Birkland, of Calgary, Alberta. Brother of Hans, Elmer, Kristian, Lawrence, Martha and Anne.

Spouse:

Home: Calgary, Alberta

Enlistment: Vancouver, British Columbia

Enlistment Date: 1940-July-15

Mentioned in Dispatches (1)

Service

RCAF

Unit

72 Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Swift

Base

RAF Lago, Italy

Rank

Flight Lieutenant

Position

Pilot

Service Numbers

J/5233

Home
Google MapCalgary, Alberta
Final Burial
Google MapCmentarz Wojenny Wspolnoty Brytyjskiej w Poznaniu
7 C 3

Trained at 1 ITS (graduated 15 November 1940), 11 EFTS (graduated 5 January 1941) and 9 SFTS (graduated 26 April 1941). Missing, POW, 7 November 1941 (Spitfire W3367). Died as a POW, 25 March 1944 (shot following the Great Escape)

72 Squadron (Swift). Spitfire aircraft W 3367 was shot down on November 7, 1941 over enemy territory. Flight Lieutenant Birkland was taken Prisoner of War and was one of six Canadians who were shot by the Gestapo while they were trying to escape.

Addendum: - Mention in Despatches 72 Squadron (deceased) - Award effective 8 June 1944 as per London Gazette of that date and AFRO 1729/44 dated 11 August 1944. No citation in AFRO Detail provided by H. Halliday, Orleans, Ontario

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Find-A-Grave Finadagrave.com

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Unit Desciption

72 Sqn Swift ()

Malta

Supplemental Story

Stories and Videos

The Great Escape: Canadian Airmen Role

The Movie by the same name implies that The Great Escape was an American operation. It was not. It was primarily a British Commonwealth Operation and Canadian airmen had a very prominent role. In fact six Canadian airmen who were captured after escape were executed by German forces.

YouTube The True Story Of The Great Escape

Further Reading:

  1. THE GREAT ESCAPE: A CANADIAN STORY by Ted Barris
  2. THE GREAT ESCAPE by Paul Brickhill

The Escape

Seventy-six Allied Officers escape from Prisoner of War Camp Stalag Luft 3. 50 were subsequently murdered in retaliation for their escape attempt on the order of Adolph Hitler. 15 were recaptured, and 11 escaped.

6 - RCAF

  1. Flight Lieutenant GE McGill
  2. Flight Lieutenant H Birkland MiD
  3. Flight Lieutenant GA Kidder
  4. Flight Lieutenant PW Langford MiD
  5. Flight Lieutenant JC Wernham MiD
  6. Flight Lieutenant GW Wiley

4 - RAAF

  1. Squadron Leader J Catanach
  2. Flight Lieutenant AH Hake
  3. Flying Officer RV Kierath
  4. Squadron Leader JEA Williams

2 - RNZAF

  1. Flying Officer A Christensen
  2. Flying Officer PPJ Pohe

2 - SAAF

  1. Flight Lieutenant N McGarr
  2. Lt RJ Stevens

2 - Norway (RAF)

  1. Flying Officer H Espelid
  2. Flying Officer J Fugelsang

1 - France (RAF)

  1. Lt BW Scheidhower

1 - Greece (RAF)

  1. Flying Officer S Skanziklas

32 - RAF

  1. Flight Lieutenant E Brettell DFC
  2. Flight Lieutenant LG Butt DFC
  3. Squadron Leader RJ Bushell
  4. Flight Lieutenant MJ Casey
  5. Flying Officer D.H. Cochram
  6. Squadron Leader IK Cross DFC
  7. Flight Lieutenant BH Evans
  8. Lt Gouws
  9. F/Ls WJ Grisman
  10. Flight Lieutenant AD Gunn
  11. Flight Lieutenant CB Hall
  12. Flight Lieutenant AH Hayter
  13. Flight Lieutenant ES Humphreys
  14. Flight Lieutenant A Kiewnarski
  15. Squadron Leader TG Kirby-Green
  16. Flying Officer W Kolanowski
  17. Flight Lieutenant TB Leigh
  18. Flight Lieutenant R Marcinkcus
  19. Flight Lieutenant HT Milford
  20. Flying Officer J Mondschein
  21. Flying Officer K Pawluk
  22. Flight Lieutenant HA Picard
  23. Flight Lieutenant CD Swain
  24. Flying Officer RC Stewart
  25. Flying Officer JG Stower
  26. Flying Officer DD Street
  27. Flight Lieutenant E Valenta
  28. Flight Lieutenant GW Walenn
  29. Flight Lieutenant JF Williams
  30. Flight Lieutenant JLR Long
  31. Flying Officer S Krol
  32. Flying Officer P Tobolski

The Great Escape

  1. From which Prison Camp were the Canadian and British Airmen trying to escape and where was it located?
  2. How deep was the escape tunnel?
  3. How long was the tunnel?
  4. How many men expected to escape?
  5. How how many did escape?
  6. How many were re-captured?
  7. How long did it take to plan and execute the escape?
  8. What special skills were required to facilitate the escape?
  9. Was the Gestapo's treatment of the re-captured prisoners legal under the terms of the Geneva Convention?

Additional Projects

  • Compare and contrast the 1963 movie with the actual events
  • Compare the differences between Internment and Prisoner of War
  • Were there allied prison camps for Captured German and Japanese?
  • Were there detainment camps for non-combatants?