Rear-Admiral Richard Hugh Leir (November 19, 1921 in

Penticton, British Columbia Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley of the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan Lake, Okanagan and Skaha Lake, Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its pop ...

– May 28, 2015 in

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), joined the Royal Canadian Navy as a cadet in 1940, after attending Shawnigan Lake School and the

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in Dartmouth, England, continued his early training with the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, he witnessed the sinking of the

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...

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, was 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 to 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 documentary video, ''Two Prisoners of War'', produced by Policy Publishers Inc. (Pat Ryan, John Frank, Maurice Turner). A copy is available for viewing at the DND Directorate of History and Heritage in Ottawa. Leir died on May 28, 2015.Rear Admiral Richard Hugh "Dick" LEIR
''Legacy''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leir, Richard H. 1921 births 2015 deaths Canadian admirals Canadian military personnel of World War II People from Penticton World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Shawnigan Lake School alumni