The Coastwatchers is the fascinating story of the unsung heroic civilian spotters of World War 2 who roamed the coastlines of their home islands and reported back enemy sightings to Allied Intelligence. Author Eric Feldt led Operation Ferdinand, part of the build-up to the Normandy landings, in which the Coastwatchers, by this time on the US Navy's payroll, played a critical role. His intimate knowledge of Ferdinand, and his familiarity with the Coastwatchers of the Pacific islands, provides a unique perspective on this little known but important chapter of military history.
Day after day, Hugh looks for signs of German spies. It seems like a harmless way to spend time...at least at first. It's the summer of 1943 and America is at war. Eleven-year-old Hugh and his family are spending the summer on the South Carolina coast. Day after day Hugh scans the Atlantic Ocean through his binoculars, looking for signs of enemy activity. Then one day Hugh sees something in the water that looks like a periscope. Later he plucks a black bag out of the surf. Inside is a crudely drawn map. Then one night he spots a light flashing from the cupola at the top of an abandoned beach house. Have enemy soldiers invaded the coastline? Set against the backdrop of the home front during World War II, Elise Weston's dramatic adventure will draw readers in with its exciting blend of mystery and history. Young people will also respond to the sympathetic protagonist who learns that war is not a distant and exciting game, but a grim reality involving real people and real danger.
This remarkable memoir tells the compelling story of the near-mythic British district officer who helped shape the first great Allied counteroffensive. Scottish-born and Cambridge-educated, Martin Clemens managed to survive months behind Japanese lines in one of the most unfriendly climates and terrains in the world. After countless partisan and spy missions, in 1942 he emerged from the jungle and integrated his Melanesian commando force into the heart of the 1st Marine Division's operations, earning the unfettered admiration of such legendary Marine officers as Vandegrift, Thomas, Twining, Edson, and Pate. This book is based on a journal Clemens kept during the war and might well be the last critical source of analysis of the Solomon's campaign. His eyewitness accounts of harrowing long-distance patrols and life on the run from shadowy Japanese intelligence operatives and treacherous islanders are unmatched in the literature of the Pacific war. First published in 1998, the story, with an introduction by Allan R. Millett, is essential and enjoyable reading.
From the bestselling author of Day of Infamy: In the bloodiest island combat of WWII, one group of men kept watch from behind Japanese lines. The Solomon Islands was where the Allied war machine finally broke the Japanese empire. As pilots, marines, and sailors fought for supremacy in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and the Slot, a lonely group of radio operators occupied the Solomon Islands’ highest points. Sometimes encamped in comfort, sometimes exposed to the elements, these coastwatchers kept lookout for squadrons of Japanese bombers headed for Allied positions, holding their own positions even when enemy troops swarmed all around. They were Australian-born but Solomon-raised, and adept at survival in the unforgiving jungle environment. Through daring and insight, they stayed one step ahead of the Japanese, often sacrificing themselves to give advance warning of an attack. In Lonely Vigil, Walter Lord, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of A Night to Remember and The Miracle of Dunkirk, tells of the survivors of the campaign and what they risked to win the war in the Pacific.
A tense, exciting war adventure inspired by the coastwatchers of Operation Pacific, from award-winning author David Hill. ‘It’s not going to be a cushy job, young Benson. You’re on your own. Japs will be looking for you. Far as they’re concerned, you’re spies. And when a spy gets captured, remember . . .’ It’s 1943, and 19-year-old radio operator Frank Benson is shipped out to an enemy-occupied island in the Solomons with two other soldiers. Their mission is to spy on the Japanese. In dense jungle they meet a Solomon Islander who says he has information that will shatter Japanese defences. But he could be working for the enemy. What if it’s a trap to get them killed? No training could have prepared Frank for this decision. Their lives - and Operation Pacific - depend on his next move.
After Pearl Harbor, Japan swept unchecked through the Pacific. But a tiny band of brave men stayed behind the enemy lines. Aided by loyal islanders, they watched and they warned. They were the Coast Watchers. They saved countless lives - including that of future US President John F. Kennedy - and they changed the course of the Pacific War. They knew capture meant certain execution but, while the Japanese hunted them, they moved and hid in the jungle, taking their cumbersome teleradios with them (equipment that took more than a dozen men to transport). They warned of Japanese air strikes, reported on the movements of their shipping and troops, and saved scores of downed airmen. Their reports gave vital warning time to the Allies and allowed them to take a decisive toll on the enemy. The famed American admiral, William 'Bull' Halsey summed it up- 'Guadalcanal saved the Pacific, and the Coast Watchers saved Guadalcanal.'
The Solomon Islands Campaign of World War II has been the subject of many published historical accounts. Most of these accounts present an ‘outsider’ perspective with limited reference to the contribution of indigenous Solomon Islanders as coastwatchers, scouts, carriers and labourers under the Royal Australian Navy and other Allied military units. Where islanders are mentioned, they are represented as ‘loyal’ helpers. The nature of local contributions in the war and their impact on islander perceptions are more complex than has been represented in these outsiders’ perspectives. Islander encounters with white American troops enabled self-awareness of racial relationships and inequality under the colonial administration, which sparked struggles towards recognition and political autonomy that emerged in parts of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in the postwar period. Exploitation of postwar military infrastructure by the colonial administration laid the foundation for later sociopolitical upheaval experienced by the country. In the aftermath of the 1998 crisis, the supposed unity and pride that prevailed among islanders during the war has been seen as an avenue whereby different ethnic identities can be unified. This national unification process entailed the construction of the ‘Pride of our Nation’ monument that aims to restore the pride and identity of Solomon Islanders.
Coastal regions offer the observer a unique perspective on the forces of nature in conflict. The geologic forces that created and continue to shape the continent's edge in conjunction with factors of climate and oceanography produce wildlife zones of fascinating complexity. Nowhere is this truer than in the Northwest from Cape Mendocino to Cape Flattery, a young coast which also has the last vestiges of seashore wilderness in the continental USA. The author's aim has been not to provide a conventional field guide-there are many such available-but rather to provide insights into the relationships among the sea and the land and the living creatures they support. Starting in the coastal waters with their populations of marine animals and seabirds, the author examines the successive habitats found landward, from seashore, estuaries, dune, and freshwater wetlands to the great temperate conifer forests so characteristic of the region. The reader will learn how the coastal environment molded the bodies and behavior of its inhabitants over the millennia, and how these creatures, in turn, changed their environments; the forces controlling their abundance, distribution, growth, and reproduction are explained in non-technical language, drawing upon several branches of scientific inquiry. Along with a fuller understanding and appreciation of the structure of the Northwest's natural world, we hope the reader will gain a sense of its fragility, heeding the author's caution about human impacts on the coast and striving to protect this unique environment. A portion of the profits from the sale of this book go to support Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and its efforts to protect our coastal region for future generations. Please visit our website, OregonShores.org, for more information. THE OREGON SHORES CONSERVATION COALITION For more than 40 years, the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition has served as the guardian of Oregon's extraordinary coastal legacy. Founded initially by those who had campaigned for the state's pioneering Beach Bill, which reserves the entire shoreline for the public, Oregon Shores has over the decades expanded its focus from the beaches to the entire coastal region, from the crest of the Coast Range to the edge of the continental shelf. The ecology of this region is described in Stewart Schultz' The Northwest Coast, so it is fitting that Oregon Shores should re-publish this out-of-print classic. Public education about the resources and natural communities of the Oregon coast has always been an important aspect of the organization's work. Through the CoastWatch program, Oregon Shores organizes volunteers who keep watch over the shore-Oregon is the only state whose entire shoreline has been adopted by its citizens. CoastWatchers monitor the coast for a wide range of natural changes and human impacts. The program continually seeks to train its volunteers, while also providing educational experiences for the public at large. The value of The Northwest Coast as a resource for CoastWatch "mile adopters" was the original impetus for Oregon Shores' first venture as a book publisher. From sprawling development to the spread of riprap to the pollution of rivers and estuaries, Oregon's coast is under continual threat. The looming impact of climate change will exacerbate all these threats, unless we learn to adapt intelligently. Oregon Shores is dedicated to stewardship over this magnificent but endangered place. The Northwest Coast reveals what we have to lose if we fail to counter the threats to the coastal environment. In publishing the book, Oregon Shores hopes that the reader will delight in its wealth of information about the ecology of Oregon's coastal region and will be moved to action in defense of this natural legacy. Corrected/updated 2011
