LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant Alan Fairlie KYLE DSC
Service No: Commissioned Officer, Royal Australian Navy
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 7 February 1898
Enlisted in the RAN: 2 April 1942
Unit: HMAS Brisbane
Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), 13 November 1945 (Citation Title: Coast Watching behind enemy lines in the Pacific)
Died: Prisoner of War: New Ireland PNG, 1 September 1942, Aged 44 Years
Buried: Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Gordon and Amelia Margaret Kyle; husband of Lily May Kyle, of Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 1, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flying Officer Cecil John Trewelyan Mason (263679) volunteered to land from a submarine in enemy occupied territory to gain information on enemy strength and the attitude of local inhabitants. On the occasion of a second landing in enemy-held territory on Feni Island on 21 July 1942, he was informed by the local inhabitants that coast watcher Lieutenant Kyle was still on the island. Flying Office Mason arranged for Lieutenant Kyle to be embarked on the submarine on 23 July and landed again on Feni Island for this purpose. He failed to return and missed agreed rendezvous positions with the submarine over the next four days.
Enemy documents later obtained showed that both Flying Officer Mason and Lieutenant Kyle had been captured.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, Kyle Alan Fairlie
Bibliography:
Lindsay, Patrick, The Coastwatchers: behind enemy lines, the men who saved the Pacific, William Heinemann, 2010
McFarlane, C.C. (Cyrus C.) Tojo’s Fate: Australia’s secret war, Sid Harta Publishers Glen Waverley VIC 3150, 2009
McMillan A. (Andrew) Catalina Dreaming: rescues exciting missions and other stories about the famous Australian flying boats of WWII, Duffy and Snellgrove Potts Point NSW, 2002
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Catalina, Neptune and Orion in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1991