| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | PR00170 |
| Collection type | Private Record |
| Record type | Collection |
| Measurement | 6 items |
| Object type | Letter |
| Maker |
Birchall, Frederick George |
| Date made | 1945-1946 |
| Access | Open |
| Related File This file can be copied or viewed via the Memorial’s Reading Room. | AWM371 92/0621 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
| Copying Provisions | Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required. |
Birchall, Frederick George (Jock), (Squadron Leader, d.1946)
Description
Letters written by Sqn Ldr Birchall to his nephew Tom. In the letters Birchall details his work with the 1 Australian War Crimes Section. He describes interviewing recovering POWs, how the cruelest Japanese soldiers have become squirming and grovelling, the Ranau death march, interviewing the infamous Kempei Tai from Sandakan, Australia soldiers wanting to get even with the Japanese by giving them a beating, the co-operation of the Japanese administrations, the horror he felt when he heard some of the evidence of Japanese brutalities, being robbed in Darwin, flying to Indonesia and how many of the Indonesian are armed. Sqn Ldr Birchall, F/Lt H.M. McDonald and Capt A.N. Mackenzie were murdered by Indonesian extremists on 17 April 1946.