Coastwatchers The Coastwatchers , also known as the Coast Watch Organisation , Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C , Allied Intelligence Bureau , were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific island s during World War II to observe enemy movements and rescue stranded Allied personnel . They played a significant role in the Pacific Ocean theatre and South West Pacific theatre , particularly as an early warning network during the Guadalcanal campaign . Overview . The Coastwatchers were proposed by Captain Chapman James Clare , district naval officer of Western Australia , in 1919 . The organisation , operated through the Naval Intelligence Division , was first established by the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board in 1922 . It was originally confined to mainland Australia , but at the outbreak of war in 1939 it was expanded to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands . There were about 400 coastwatchers in all — they were mostly Australian military officers , New Zealand servicemen , Pacific Islanders and escaped Allied prisoners of war . The Australian coastwatch organisation was led by Lieutenant Commander Eric Feldt , who was based in Townsville , Queensland . Their actions were particularly important in monitoring Japanese activity in the roughly one thousand islands that make up the Solomon Islands . Many personnel who took part in coastwatcher operations behind enemy lines were commissioned as officers of the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve ( RANVR ) to protect them in case of capture , although this was not always recognized by the Japanese military , which executed several of them . The coastwatchers ' numbers were augmented by escaped Allied personnel and even civilians . In one strange case , three German missionaries assisted the coastwatchers after escaping Japanese captivity , though Germany was an ally of Japan during the war . Feldt chose " Ferdinand " as the code name for his organisation , from a popular children ' s book about a bull , " The Story of Ferdinand " . He explained this by saying : In June 1942 , " Ferdinand " became part of the Allied Intelligence Bureau , which was under the South West Pacific Area ( command ) ( SWPA ) . However Feldt reported to both GHQ , SWPA , in Brisbane and the Fleet Radio Unit in Melbourne ( FRUMEL ) , which was under the Pacific Ocean Areas ( command ) . Significance . In 1942 , two coastwatchers on Bougainville , Read and Mason , radioed early warning of Japanese warship and air movement ( citing the numbers , type and speed of enemy units ) to the United States Navy . Coastwatcher reports allowed U . S . forces to launch aircraft in time to engage the attackers . Admiral William Halsey , Jr . was later to say that the two men had saved Guadalcanal . One of the most highly decorated coastwatchers was Sergeant Major Jacob C . Vouza , who retired from the local constabulary in 1941 , volunteered for coastwatcher duty , was captured and interrogated brutally . He survived and escaped to make contact with U . S . Marines warning them of an impending Japanese attack . He recovered from his wounds and continued to scout for the Marines . He was awarded the Silver Star and Legion of Merit by the United States and later received a knighthood as well as becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire . Coastwatchers were paid a bounty for each rescued Allied or captured Japanese pilot they delivered . Donald Kennedy of New Georgia was paid more than US $ 1 million for delivering 20 Allied and 20 Japanese pilots at once in August 1943 . That month , LTJG John F . Kennedy of the United States Navy — a future President — and ten fellow crew members were shipwrecked after the sinking of their boat , the " PT - 109 " . An Australian coastwatcher , Sub - Lt Arthur Reginald Evans , observed the explosion of the " PT - 109 " when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer . Despite U . S . Navy crews giving up the crew as a complete loss , Evans dispatched two Solomon Islander scouts , one of them named Biuki Gasa , in dugout canoes . The scouts found the men ; Kennedy scratched a message to Evans on a coconut describing the plight and position of his crew . The future U . S . President was rescued shortly after and 20 years later welcomed Evans to the White House . Gasa did not make the trip , later claiming he received the invitation to attend but was fooled into not attending by British colonial officials . Gasa left his village and arrived in Honiara but was not allowed to leave in time for the ceremony . " After the rescue Kennedy said he would meet us again , " the other scout , Eroni Kumana , says in ' The Search for Kennedy ' s PT - 109 ' . " When he became President , he invited us to visit him . But when we got to the airport , we were met by a clerk , who said we couldn ' t go — Biuku and I spoke no English . My feelings went for bad . " From 1942 to 1945 , New Zealand Scientists were stationed on subantarctic islands during World War II ( to prevent their use as refuges by German surface raiders ) . The idea was that scientists would not become bored but pursue their research . The stationing of the scientists was known for security reasons in scientific publications that ensued as the " Cape Expedition " . The staff included Robert Falla , later to become an eminent New Zealand scientist .