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Served in WW1 and was Executed in WW2 by the Japanese along with his comrade Sub-Lieut. Gregory Wade Benham DSC (/explore/people/619735)

Alan Fairlie Kyle, known as Bill, had served in World War 1 as a Sapper in the 4th Division Signal Company. He enlisted on 7th February 1916 and stated that he was an 18 year old with 3 years prior service in the Senior Cadets. He had attended Toowoomba Grammar School from 1908 to 1911 so its presumed that it was that schools cadet unit in which he served.

Assigned to the 4th Divisional Signal Company as a Sapper, he proceeded to France in early 1917, soon afterwards being removed from the field suffering from 'strain and shock' as a result of active service. Returning to Australia in the transport Borda, he was discharged as unfit for further duty in January 1918.

But this uninspiring introduction to military service belied the true bravery of a man who would ultimately become a byword among the clandestine world of the 'Coastwatchers'..

When the Japanese invaded Rabaul in World War 2, Alan Fairlie Kyle and Gregory Wade Benham were Assistant District Officer and Patrol Officer respectively at Namatanai on New Ireland some forty miles from Rabaul. Bill was popular with the locals and was known to mediate in tribal disputes.

The following account of how Bill Kyle resolved a tribal dispute in Chimbu in 1936 is from the Pacific Islands Monthly, 1965.

One day early in April, 1936, the late “Bill” Kyle, then ADO at New Guinea's recently opened Chimbu Government station, heard reports of serious fighting between the Gena and the Siku, two Chimbu tribes living by the Koronigl River near Kerowagi, some 20 miles west of Kyle’s station. Kyle, a tough, energetic, forceful man (who died most gallantly a Coastwatcher in New Ireland in 1942) had been in the area for a couple of years. He knew that the Gena and the Siku had been warring against each other for years before the white man had penetrated the Chimbu in 1933, and he determined, as far as possible, to put an end to it. The fighting that he was immediately concerned with arose over the encroachment by the Gena on land claimed by the Siku. The land was near where the present Government station at Kerowagi is located. Kyle assembled the entire Gena and Siku population near a Lutheran mission station that had been established at Kerowagi in 1934 by Rev. H. Hanneman, who is there today. He confiscated all the weapons he could find - spears, bows and arrows, and stone axes - and destroyed them. In a forceful speech, he told the people that their fighting must stop and he resettled some of the Siku on the land the Gena had taken from them. His prompt and vigorous action made a profound impression on the tribesmen. To this day, his name, and this particular action of his, are remembered. Among the thousands of tribesmen who were present at the destruction of the weapons was a youth of but 15 named Siwi Kurondo. (Later to become a leading Chimbu politician, member of the House of Assembly and co-founder of the PNG National Party).

Described by an old friend (and his future C.O.), Commander Eric Feldt, as a 'very short, rather plump man' but despite his size and shape 'a good athlete' and 'a first rate cricket player', Kyle reacted quickly to the arrival of a Japanese convoy off Rabaul. In company with his Patrol Officer, Gregory Benham, he moved off down the East Coast, collecting planters and missionaries en route. On arrival at Cape St.George, at the southern end of the Island, he obtained a boat for his growing party of refugees and requested instructions from Australia. The response requested him to stay behind in order to set up an observation post, while the remainder endeavoured to escape. Although ill, Gregory Benham insisted on staying with Kyle..

They were both still civilians and had no obligation to remain in such a perilous position. Both were well aware that capture would result in torture and death. Four weeks after the fall of Rabaul, the men were joined by another ten refugees from Rabaul.

Six weeks later Kyle and Benham managed to radio that they had the soldiers with them and had been joined by another party of men who escaped from Kavieng. Kyle and Benham were notified that they had been appointed Lieutenant and Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve respectively on 2nd April 1942 and allocated to the Special Intelligence Service. They were eager to ensure that that were not shot as spies so had uniforms dropped to them as soon as possible.

A boat was arranged to take the now twenty-three men to safety. Kyle and Benham again elected to stay and perform coast watching duties and to keep the natives at Namatanai loyal. The Japanese established civil administration in the area and subsequently Kyle and Benham were betrayed by natives and Chinese. An attempt by an American submarine to rescue them prior to their capture was unsuccessful.

It was later learnt that Kyle and Benham were captured just eighteen hours before they were to be picked up and the fact that the submarine had not been attacked at the rendezvous location shows that they had kept silent despite Japanese questioning. After being held captive for four months, the Japanese decided to execute Alan Kyle and Greg Benham. A villager named Tulen witnessed the last moments of Alan Kyle and Greg Benham and several other captured coastwatchers. He reported that the men blindfolded and with their hands tied behind them, were taken in two separate groups, about two months apart, by a Japanese barge from Kavieng wharf to Nago Island. The barge later returned empty on both occasions. No doubt, they were all executed on the Nago Island by the Japanese Military Police (Kempei Tai).

After the war and acting on reports received from natives, a party of Australians proceeded to Nago Island and found the bodies of Alan Kyle, Greg Benham and an elderly planter named Jack Talmadge buried together. The remains were collected and buried in a common grave at the Bita Paka War Cemetery at Rabaul. Alan Kyle and Greg Benham were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their bravery. Alan Kyle's award was promulgated in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 13th November 1945. The award was presented to his widowed wife by the Governor of New South Wales at Government House in Sydney on 26th February 1947. She subsequently presented the medal to the New Guinea Government.

In May 1979 his widow sought to claim replacements for the two lost WW1 medals of Bills which were presumed misplaced in New Guinea during the war however the Australian Army refused as they stated that medals could not be replaced after the death of the recipient. They did however send her his 1939-45 and Australia Service Medals which had been issued but returned unclaimed in October 1956. It is presumed that she had his un-named 1939-45 and Pacific Stars as the set of 4 was sold at Christies in 1999 for over $2000 which at the time was a remarkable sum. They are now held by the Australian War Memorial.

Until recently it was believed that Bill’s WW1 medals had been destroyed. The location of his Victory Medal is presently still unknown but the survival of the war medal gives hope that it may exist. His paybook was sold by Noble in 1995 for a nominal sum – the historical significance not known to the cataloguer.