Fire Over the Islands: The Coast Watchers of the Solomons. Horton, D C.

The Coast Watchers 'had lived and worked in the Solomons before the Japanese invasion in 1942. The men used their knowledge of the area to direct and co-ordinate attacks, set up concealed radio stations and to gather and transmit information from near the enemy lines'. Amongst the incidents related is an account of Reg Evans' part in the rescue of Lt John F Kennedy and the crew of PT 109 after it had been cut in half in a collision with a Japanese destroyer.

256 pp, 16 pp b&w plates, 11 maps, index, endpaper maps: Pacific Ocean hardback with scruffy jacket Leo Cooper London (1970) 220mm x 145mm

Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons Walter Lord

The first complete account of the Coastwatchers of the Solomons, that remarkable band of individualists who operated behind Japanese lines in the dark days of 1942-1943. Living by their wits, with the help of friendly natives, they gave us our best intelligence, rescued our downed flyers, saved our men from their sinking ships - including John F. Kennedy's PT 109. In Admiral Halsey's words, 'The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.' Yet the full saga of the Coastwatchers is more than the story of a few brave men. It is also the story of the natives who helped them, the missionaries they worked with, the downed flyers and castaways they recurred, the Marine patrols they guided, the pilots and submariners who serviced them, even the Japanese who chased them.

322 pages hardback with jacket The Viking Press, New York (1977)