Profile image
Military service
Age:
34
Rank:
Lieutenant
Force:
Army
Unit/Regiment:
Winnipeg Grenadiers, R.C.I.C.
Birth:
July 15, 1907
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Enlistment:
September 2, 1939
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Death:
December 19, 1941
Wong Nai Chung Gap, Hong Kong
Burial/memorial information
Grave reference:
Column 25.
Additional information
Son of Allan Birkett and Janet Ellen Bow, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Husband of Mabel Louise Adams. Father of Beverley Ann and Marlyn Joyce Birkett. Brother of Tyson Birkett, police officer with the RCMP.
He served in Manitoba, in Jamaica with Force Y, in Hong Kong with Force C. He had 838 days of service, including 59 overseas.
Additional citations
1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Defence Medal, Hong Kong Bar.
Digital gallery of Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
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Photo of GEORGE ALLAN BIRKETT
Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me -
Newspaper Clipping
In memory of the men and women memorialized on the pages of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me -
Newspaper Clipping
In memory of the men and women memorialized on the pages of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me -
Canadian Casuatlies in the Defence of Hong Kong
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada. -
Unknown Marker
The Sai Wan Memorial is located at the entrance of Sai Wan Cemetery. 1,505 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War are buried or commemorated at this cemetery, of which 444 of the burials are the remains of unidentified soldiers, including those of 107 Canadian soldiers, most of whom were killed or died of wounds during the defense of Hong Kong, which took place from December 8th to December 25th, 1941. This is one such grave marker. There is a possibility that the remains of Lieutenant GEORGE ALLAN BIRKETT beneath this grave marker, or one of the other 106 grave markers in Sai Wan Cemetery that simply read, A SOLDIER OF THE 1939-1945 WAR. A CANADIAN REGIMENT. KNOWN UNTO GOD. The unidentified soldiers are commemorated at the Sai Wan Memorial. -
Newspaper Clipping
This contains excerpts from a long article in the Globe and Mail published on September 8, 1945, which provides some background on the situation in Hong Kong prior to the battle and, in the right hand column, an account of fighting by the Winnegeg Grenadiers on December 19, 1941 in whch over 60 members of the regiment, including Lieutenant BIRKETT were killed. -
Memorial
Lieutenant GEORGE ALLAN BIRKETT is one of 18 members of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps who are commemorated on this panel of the Sai Wan Memorial. He was one of 290 Canadian soldiers killed during the defense of Hong Kong, from December 8th to December 25th, 1941. -
Newspaper Clipping
Lieutenant GEORGE ALLAN BIRKETT was reported to have been Killed in Action in the Canadian Army's 246th overseas casualty list of the war published in the Globe and Mail on January 12, 1943. -
Newspaper Clipping
This account of the heroic actions of Lieutenant GEORGE ALLAN BIRKETT in fighting on December 19, 1941 during the defense of Hong Kong, as related by released Prisoner of War Private Leonard Mulvaney to War Correspondent Gordon Root, appeared in the Hamilton Spectator on September 13, 1945. Private Mulvaney stated ¿We never did hear from him again, but I can¿t see how he could have come out alive¿. Lieutenant BIRKETT was indeed killed that day. -
Dedicatory Inscription of the Sai Wan Memorial
Dedicatory inscription of the SAI WAN MEMORIAL. This memorial bears the names of more than 2,000 Commonwealth servicemen, including 228 Canadians. -
Canada and the Defence of Hong Kong
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada. -
Photo of GEORGE ALLAN BIRKETT
In memory of those who served in Hong Kong during World War 11 and did not come home. Submitted with permission on behalf of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association by Operation: Picture Me. -
Roll of honour
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Newspaper clipping
From the Leader Post Regina, Saskatchewan. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
Newspaper clipping
From a World War 2 issue of the Vancouver Province c.1942. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant George Allan Birkett
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 23 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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