Thank God Such Men Lived

Thank God Such Men Lived BY KEN WRIGHT ‘For I am writing not history, and the truth is that the most brilliant exploits often tell us nothing of the virtues of the men who performed them, while on the other hand, a chance remark or a joke may reveal far more of a mans character than the mere feat of winning battles in which thousands fall or of the marshalling of great armies or laying siege to cities’ - Greek philosopher Plutarch, about 110 AD The Coastwatchers Memorial Lighthouse was erected by public subscription and by money from the Commonwealth of Australia in 1959 at Kalibobo Point in Madang, Papua New Guinea. Shaped like a rocket or a bomb, the 80-feet high reinforced concrete column has an attractive base surround and a cruciform pathway approach. This memorial lighthouse was also designed to be a practical navigational aid with provision for the installation of a powerful one million candlepower beam that would be visible up to ten miles out to sea. Part of the inscription on the dedication plate reads: ‘In honour and grateful memory of the Coastwatchers and of the loyal natives who assisted them in their heroic service behind enemy lines during the Second World War in providing intelligence vital to the conduct of Allied operations. Not only did the Coastwatchers transmit by means of teleradio from their jungle hideouts information which led to the sinking of numerous enemy warships but they were able to give timely warning of impending enemy air attacks. The contribution towards the Allied victory in the Pacific by a small body of men who constituted the Coastwatchers was out of all proportion to their numbers’. The concept of the Coastwatchers began in 1919 just after the end of World War I when the Royal Australian Navy selected unpaid civilians to be organised on a voluntary basis to report in time of war any unusual or suspicious events along the Australian coastline. This plan was quickly extended to include New Guinea [not Dutch New Guinea] as well as Papua and the Solomon Islands. Initially Coastwatchers in the Australian Territories were either owners or managers of plantations or officers of the Territories Administration. The man who was to do so much to ensure the success of the Coastwatcher concept, Eric Feldt, began his career as one of the first term cadets to enter the newly established Royal Australian Naval College at Geelong in Victoria in 1913.1 He resigned a few years later to work for the Australian government as a district officer in Papua New Guinea. As his association with the people and the land grew, he came to know and understand the villagers, plantation managers and assorted government officials and they in turn came to know and trust him. With the outbreak of World War II against Nazi Germany in 1939, approximately 800 Coastwatchers were under the control of the Royal Australian Navy Intelligence Division. Eric Feldt, who was by now a Lieutenant Commander on the Navy’s emergency list, resigned his position as a District Officer, rejoined the Navy and was appointed Staff Officer in Intelligence at Port Moresby. His main duty was to organise and expand the civilian Coastwatchers. On 7 December 1941, in the United States, while negotiations to avoid a possible war in the Pacific were taking place between Japanese and American diplomats, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo launched, without an official declaration of war, a carefully planned and well executed surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Planes from six aircraft carriers killed 2,350 Americans and severely crippled the US fleet. The Japanese then proceeded to expand their military dominance over Malaya, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, the Netherlands East Indies, Rabaul, Singapore and many of the islands in the South Pacific. Australia, along with other Allied nations was now at war with both Germany and Japan. With the Japanese almost on Australia’s doorstep and with Lieutenant Commander Eric Feldt now in operational control of the Coastwatchers, many of the civilians opted to stay in New Guinea and become Coastwatchers rather than be evacuated as the Japanese war machine drew closer. As civilians, they were fully aware that, if they were caught, they would be treated as spies and possibly executed. The Coastwatchers were supplied with teleradios, a heavy unwieldy radio and telegraph combination set. It was battery operated with a voice range of around 650 km and a telegraph range of 950 km. The radio was sturdy and very efficient, but because of its weight, batteries, charging engine and benzine fuel, it needed several men to carry it. The Coastwatchers were trained in the use of the ‘Playfair’ code, a low grade cipher based on a list of key words. Later coders, trained at HMAS Cerberus Signal School near Victoria’s Westernport Bay, were drafted to parties of Coastwatchers and Australian Army commandos who operated as guerrillas. As an example, Naval Intelligence asked one Coastwatcher, Jack Read [seen here operating teleradio], for his wife to provide some key words for use with the Playfair code. ‘What was the name of your sister’s racehorse? ‘Rainbird’. ‘Where was your wife’s first teaching appointment’? ‘Deloraine.’ These would easily have been decoded by Japanese decoders within a week or two. They were acknowledged experts, so the code words were for immediate use only and not to be repeated. The key words had eight or more letters and included W, X, Y or Z if possible.2 2 By March 1942, Coastwatchers were positioned around the coasts of Papua New Guinea, the adjacent islands and the Solomon Islands and, as they were now operating in enemy held territory, it was recommended that they be appointed to naval rank although some opted to join the Army or the Air Force. This was not only for pay but primarily, as active serviceman, they would not be treated as spies but as prisoners of war. As it turned out, the subtle difference of being a serving member in the Australian military or a civilian meant nothing to the Japanese and those who were caught were, in most cases, shown no mercy and summarily executed. Throughout the war, the information transmitted to the Director of Naval Intelligence by the Coastwatchers was comprehensive and accurate, so there was little the Allies didn’t know about the strength and location of the enemy. Knowledge of the terrain in which they operated and the friendship and assistance of the local natives were the essential elements needed for the Coastwatchers to operate and evade Japanese patrols. In fact, without local native cooperation, it would have been very difficult if not impossible for the Coastwatchers to have achieved anywhere near the success they did. They were a mixed bag of soldiers, naval personnel, traders, planters, missionaries, colonial officials and locals. In most cases, they were thoroughly familiar with the area and many considered the South Pacific their home. Although it is undeniable that the contributions of all the men and few women Coastwatchers helped to ensure the eventual Allied victory, it is a sad fact that only a select few are remembered. The rest have faded into the background. The two Coastwatchers who are the most remembered are William John Read, better known as Jack Read, and Paul Edward Mason, who were stationed on the island of Bougainville during the period December 1941 to August 1942. 3 Paul Mason was completely different to Read. He was a short man, serious, slightly short-sighted, a little deaf and wore glasses. At the time he joined the service he was, at 41, rather old for the job he was to undertake. Nevertheless, he was tough, self- reliant, strong as an ox and a man of action; considered by others to be a loner. He had spent most of his life as a planter on Bougainville and knew the island inside out, understood the indigenous population and was an excellent radio technician. His reports were always pragmatic and to the point. Jack Read on the other hand was dark, wiry, brisk and gregarious and had arrived on Bougainville only a month before the Japanese. Read was so captivated by the sheer beauty of the islands that he always included descriptions of his surroundings in his reports even when the enemy was closing in. 4 Jack Read was born on 18 September 1905 and began his love of New Guinea and its people when he answered an advertisement for young men to join the Australian Administration as Patrol Officers. He sailed from Sydney on the SS Montoro 29 June 1929 arriving on 11 July as a 23 year old Cadet Patrol Officer. With public service approval, Jack had married Gwen Ballantyne just before he left for New Guinea. However, he didn’t know that the then New Guinea Administrator, Mr McNichol, had a policy of employing only unmarried cadets. The Commonwealth Public Service approval had over-ridden this policy, and Read had to be accepted. In order to force him to resign, Read was given the worst, most difficult jobs available but he thrived on them for two years. 3 From March to December 1931, Read was back in Sydney for training which included a course in tropical medicine. He then took four months leave before returning to New Guinea still as a cadet to a posting in the Sepik/Ambunti region during which time he contracted amoebic dysentery. From June to December 1933, his first posting as a qualified Patrol Officer was in Madang where he established the Bogia outpost.

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