Leonard Reginald 'Len' Brennan (1911–1943) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1930s. He was a casualty of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Career

Len Brennan was a local from

Ramsgate, New South Wales Ramsgate is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 16 km south of the Sydney central business district. It is part of the St George area. Divided by Rocky Point Road, part of Ramsgate to the east of ...

, and played three seasons of first grade with the

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

between 1932 and 1934, including the 1933 Grand Final. Len also played with his oldest brother Joe Brennan at

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

during his career. They were both wingers.

War death

Brennan enlisted in the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

during 1941 and became a Flight Sergeant in 104 Squadron. On 8 June 1943, Brennan served as the co-pilot of a

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

bomber sent on an operational flight. During the flight, the bomber was shot down, and all aboard save one were killed. An account of the day was written by the survivor, the pilot,

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

F.E. McLaren. McLaren was picked up by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

ships at about 2:00 pm the next day, but nobody else survived.

References

St. George Dragons players Australian rugby league players 1911 births 1943 deaths Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Australian military personnel killed in World War II Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1910s-stub