Documentary On WWII Pilots Shed Light On Talalla Family Legacy

By Ali Imran Mohd Noordin KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- At the Allied Memorial at Noyers Bocage in France, the memorial dedicated to the Typhoon fighter aircraft pilots of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) has a Malaysian name etched on its roll of honour plaque. Warrant Officer HCB Talalla or Henry Conard Benjamin ‘Sonny’ Talalla of the No.182 Squadron is among the 151 names listed on the plaque in memory of the pilots who died during the Battle of Normandy during World War II (WWII). Henry's Typhoon was shot down by the Nazi anti-aircraft gunfire in 1944 while providing aerial support over south of Caen in France during Operation Cobra to penetrate the enemy defence lines. His younger brother Cyril Lionel Francis ‘Jimmy’ Talalla' too was a pilot with RAF during WWII, initially with No.118 Squadron and later the 122 Squadron, flying among others the Hurricane and later the American made Mustang aircraft. Jimmy survived the war. BROTHERS FROM AN ILUSTRIOUS FAMILY The brothers came from an illustrious Singhalese family with six sons that had seen many fine achievements since the colonial days, yet surprisingly they were hardly mentioned in the Malaysian history. Their father, Hewage Benjamin Talalla from Sri Lanka was a distinguished aviator who achieved the extraordinary feat of flying solo from Malaysia's northern city of Alor Setar to Corydon, England in 1932, a 28-day historic journey. In the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and its surround areas), there are two roads that carry the family name one in the capital city and the other in Klang in the state of Selangor, while in France there is even the 'Henry Talalla Route' connecting two villages near where Henry met his fate. One of the two surviving brothers of Henry and Jimmy is Richard Talalla, 83, a prominent senior lawyer with a well established legal practice and a former High Court judge. Nonetheless the recent documentary ‘Lost Over France: Malaysia’s Unsung Hero’ aired over Astro's History and History HD channel in conjunction with Malaysia Day celebration helped to shed some light on the two heroic brothers and the Talalla family. HIGH FLYING FAMILY Like their father, for Henry and Jimmy flying was in their blood since young and they obtained their flying licence even before completing their schooling at Victoria Institution here. Both Henry and Cyril later joined the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club and roamed the Malayan skies in Tiger Moth biplanes. When Britain declared war against Germany in September 1939, the brothers had just joined their father’s company. When the father came to know that there was a call for volunteer pilots to fight the war, he told his sons that he would like see them join the RAF. They complied to the request without knowing that the war will change their destiny forever. While the two were fighting in Europe, Japan invaded Malaya in 1941 and the Talalla family faced the wrath of the Japanese who jailed the whole family as they were considered as British symphatisers. THE FATEFUL FLIGHT On July 25, 1944, Henry was part of a four Typhoon aircraft squadron tasked with attacking a concentration of tanks at Fonetaty Le Marmion and push back the German defence formation at south of Caen. The Typhoon was considered an advanced fighter aircraft during its time and it carried rockets and cannons to destroy enemy tanks on the ground. Henry was in the third aircraft in the team. He made a 60-degree dive and fired his rockets, before coming under heavy anti-aircraft artillery fire from Nazi ground support and disappeared from the formation. Upon hearing the news, Cyril decided to look for his brother and flew alone over Northern France on his Mustang using the same path that Henry took over the battle field but his effort was in vain. Henry had crashed some 11 miles away and believed to have been buried by some French resistance fighters with his grave found beside the wreckage 21 days later by French farmer, Louie Bree. Richard said; "We must try to understand what was going on Jimmy's mind at that time. With no news whatsoever about things happening at home, in Jimmy's mind Henry was the last surviving member of the family". The Talalla family too had no idea on Henry's fate until the war came to an end in 1945. Hewage was devastated upon hearing the news and immediately left to Britain and then to France to look for Henry's grave, which he found in Louie Bree’s farm. HENRY THE PRIDE OF MALAYSIA Meanwhile, Jimmy also participated in large number of sorties during the war and in June 1943 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He returned home after the war and contributed to the development of Malaya's military and civil aviation sector before returning to Britain in the 1960s. Jimmy passed away sometime in the early 1970s. Every year during memorial day, the small village of Airan pays tribute to this Malaysian hero in a small ceremony with the presence of a member of the Talalla family. And with advancing age, this year Richard made his final journey to pay tribute to Henry and after 69 years for the first time the Malaysian flag flew at the Allied memorial at Noyers Bocage, a village near Caen, accompanied by the Malaysian national anthem. While both their courage and deeds of the Talalla brothers remained oblivious to most Malaysians until recently, their legacy will live forever as inscribed in Noyers Bocage memorial 'their name liveth for evermore'. -- BERNAMA