Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Roy Buirchell joined the Australian Imperial Force on 25th April, 1940. He trained to be a signaller at the Northam Army Camp before embarking from Fremantle for the Middle East. He was placed in the 2/11th Battalion made up of mostly West Australians.
After seven months on operations in North Africa he was recalled to Alexandria, Egypt. The Greece Government had called for help to stop the Germans invading from the north. The ANZAC group that was put together came under the name and during April 1941 thousands of New Zealand, Australian and English soldiers were shipped to Athens. From here they went by truck convoys to Mount Olympus.
The German Army routed the Allies and they had to withdraw to Athens. From here they caught war ships and were ferried to Crete.
On 20th May, 1941 the island was attacked from the air. Bonnie Buirchell was with Major Honor and Major Sandover during the invasion and watched the amazing aeroplane armada wing in from the north and drop thousands of paratroopers. For 10 days the Allies held out until General Freyberg determined the Germans were too strong. He ordered everyone to escape via Sfakia on the south coast. Bonnie was with his West Australian mates, William Paulley (Wickepin), William Taylor (Pingelly), Vic Petersen (Gosnells).
Under Major Honor and Sandover they refused to surrender and ran for the hills. They trekked to the south coast before being caught by a German patrol. They were marched for three days without food and water back over the mountains to Galatos. Bonnie and William Taylor were put on burial duty. Their first day saw them bury 29 Germans and one Ally. Bonnie could not face another day like that so he convinced William to escape that night. When they were ready William became violently ill so the plan was abandoned. They went to sleep and upon awakening William discovered that Bonnie was gone.
Bonnie was not seen nor heard of from any soldier or officer from 9th June to 5th October, 1941. From his Repatriation Questionnaire he wrote that during this time he was “loose in hills”. He had survived for 17 weeks alone and in the inhospitable environment of the mountains of Crete.
The only reason he came down as outlined in the book Spirited Away by Anthony W. Buirchell was he was bitten by a mosquito carrying malaria. He was found by an old Cretan with a donkey. The Cretan helped him from the mountains before a German patrol in a truck found them. Bonnie was taken to the Tymbakion POW camp where he recovered from the malaria. He was placed on duty helping the other 150 men cutting down olive trees and levelling the ground to make a covert aerodrome. Again the book Spited Away explains the mysterious group and their interaction with the Germans and Cretans.
On 29th December, 1941 the camp was abandoned and the 151 POWs taken back to Iraklion, shipped to Salonika and railed to Stalag VIIIB. Bonnie remained a POW until ordered by Hitler to march to Berlin. Thousands of Allies were released from their prisons during January, 1941 and made to March in the direction they thought Berlin was. In May, nearly three months later, the men were rescued by the Americans and British. Bonnie was still alive.

William Roy Buirchell was never recognised for his heroism in hiding from the Germans for 17 weeks on Crete. He was never recognised for his two escapes from German custody. He was never recognised for his survival and helping his mates during the Long March.

Bonnie rarely spoke of his times whilst in the AIF 1940 to 1945.