branch commands death_place death_date birth_place allegiance awards battles birth_date rank article_title name
canada 1921 canadian forces maritime command maritime forces pacific saanichton , british columbia 28 may 2015 penticton , british columbia canada 1921 kcb -lrb- 1908 -rrb- , kcmg '' ` second world war '' ' november 19 , 1921 rear-admiral richard h. leir
 richard h. leir
richard h. leir

rear-admiral richard hugh leir was born in penticton , bc , november 19 , 1921 .
he joined the royal canadian navy as a cadet in 1940 , after attending shawnigan lake school , as well as the royal naval college in dartmouth , england , continued his early training with the royal navy .
during world war ii , he witnessed the sinking of the battlecruiser , and survived the sinking of the battleship hms `` prince of wales '' and the cruiser .
following the latter , he was officially listed as dead for three years while actually a prisoner-of-war of the japanese between 1945 and 1954 , leir saw service in five destroyers and two frigates , including duty as operations officer in hmcs `` athabaskan '' during the korean war in 1950-51 .
between 1954 and 1962 he commanded the destroyer `` hmcs crusader '' , attended the rn staff college , served as executive officer of the aircraft carrier hmcs `` bonaventure '' and was the training commander in the fleet school at halifax .
he commanded the destroyer hmcs `` skeena '' in the pacific in 1962 .
in 1963 he took command of hmcs `` venture '' , the officer cadet training establishment in esquimalt .
in august 1964 , he was appointed to canadian forces headquarters .
in 1965 he was made commander , first canadian escort squadron based at halifax and the following year promoted commodore as senior canadian officer afloat atlantic .
leir went to the national defence college in 1967 and to national defence headquarters as a director general in 1968 .
he was promoted to rear-admiral on june 18 , 1970 , and appointed commander maritime forces pacific in which capacity he served for three years until designated chief of maritime operations in ottawa , retiring on 14 august 1975 .
he described his experiences in a fascinating documentary video `` two prisoners of war '' produced by policy publishers inc. -lrb- pat ryan , john frank , maurice turner -rrb- .
it is difficult to locate , but a copy is available for viewing at the dnd directorate of history and heritage in ottawa .
leir died on may 28 , 2015 .
