COASTWATCHERS Vial, Leigh Grant

[John Robertson]

• SURNAME

Vial ​

• FORENAME

Leigh Grant ​

• UNIT

R.A.A.F. (coastwatcher and intelligence officer) ​

• RANK

Flight Lieutenant ​

• NUMBER

253939 ​

• DATE OF DEATH

30th April 1943 ​

• AGE

34 ​

• GRAVESITE

Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea D.D.9 ​

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

born 28.2.1909​

son of Stanley Browning and Mary Vial​

husband of Marjorie Kathleen Vial,East St Kilda,Victoria​

award D.S.C. (US) as Pilot Officer​

killed in Liberator crash Medang-Wewak area,New Guinea ​

​

Flight Lieutenant Leigh Vial RAAF, a civilian who had been evacuated from Rabaul, was adamant that he wished to return to New Britain as a Coastwatcher. Because the process of obtaining a commission in the Royal Australian Navy was so slow, Vial was accepted as a pilot-officer with the RAAF and sent to Salamaua as a Coastwatcher. He became known as ‘the golden voice' as he reported enemy activity for six months from his post in the hills overlooking the airfield. He was personally awarded the American Distinguished Service Cross by General Douglas MacArthur. Later when he was stationed at Port Moresby, New Guinea, he wrote and distributed pamphlets for the Far Easter Liaison Office (FELO). The pamphlets were written in seven languages and carried various messages: urging Japanese soldiers to surrender; asking New Guineans to inform the Allies of the whereabouts of sick and wounded enemy and providing news of Allied victories. Vial was killed in April 1943 while flying with a bomb in the Sepik District of New Guinea, now known as Papua-New Guinea.​