Commando News Magazine edition 4 2020

THE LAST COASTWATCHER
The Other Surviving Coastwatcher –
Coder Ron ‘Dixie’ Lee M Special Unit (RAN)
By Mr James ‘Jim’ Burrowes, OAM. – M Special Unit, WW2
Sometime after the creation of this website,
during which I sought to identify any other
surviving Coastwatchers, I met a fellow called
‘Dixie’ Lee at a Commando Association AGM, and on
later occasions at a Tidal River commemoration and a
Coastwatchers’ Tribute in Surfers Paradise. However, I
had not been able to acquire a detailed picture of his
operations until, by sheer luck, in June 2020 I came
across an interview of Dixie by Walter Burroughs, who
is editor of the Naval Historical Review, which was
conducted on 24 March 2018. Given the informative
and interesting nature of the interview and with Dixie’s
consent, I have now included some extracts below,
focused on his time as a Coastwatcher, with the
introduction by the editor, along with some sup -
plementary material added by me.
The Naval Historical Society of Australia’s Decem -
ber 2017 edition of their magazine contained a story
‘The Last Coastwatchers’ featuring James (Jim)
Burrowes. Mention was also made of endeavours to
contact another Coastwatcher, ex RAN Coder, Ron
(Dixie) Lee. We were exceedingly pleased to receive a
telephone call from Dixie on his 93 rd birthday, Tuesday
4 July 2017, and from this beginning we have recorded
his story.
Ronald George Lee, uni -
versally known as ‘Dixie’, was
born at Ulverstone, Tasmania
on 4 July 1924. With the aid of
his father he enlisted in the
RAN in Hobart on his 17 th
birthday on 4 July 1941. A
month after enlist ment, Dixie
(S/N24856) joined the Flinders
Naval Base, HMAS Cerberus,
where he was allocated to a
new category, an adjunct to the
Naval Signals Branch, known as
Coder. These were specially
selected bright youngsters who
A very young Coder
Ron Lee, aged 17,
HMAS Manoora RAN.
could be trained in crypto analysis. Coder was
equivalent to an Able Seaman.
After 2½ years adventurous service on the HMAS
Manoora, Dixie was posted to the Brisbane base,
HMAS Moreton, for duties in General McArthur’s new
temporary Brisbane headquarters at the AMP Building
in Queen Street. He remained there for about a year,
mainly involved in coding and decoding signals. Dixie,
in common with a number of other Coders, because of
their signaling/morse and radio skills, was encouraged
to volunteer for Coastwatching duties. While a Coast -
Ron ‘Dixie’ Lee (L) & Jim Burrowes, OAM at the Commando
Commemoration at Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory, Victoria
on 17 November 2019.
watching training facility had been established at
Tabragalba near Beaudesert in South East Queensland
this was a recent initiative and was not available to
Dixie. So, without any formal training the boy from
Tassie, who had rarely seen an aircraft, was sitting in the
back of a RAAF version of the B24 Liberator bomber
enroute to Vila in the Solomon Islands.
Dixie then spent about four months inserted in
Combined Operations Intelligence Unit gathering
information in the Treasury group and the nearby
Stirling Island, with the Japanese ready for the next big
push to take Guadalcanal with its strategic air base.
When activity quietened down Dixie was posted back
to PNG, firstly at Finschhafen and later at Milne Bay.
His next move was north to the island of
Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands
administered by Australian New Guinea. Bougainville is
over 120 miles (194km) long and 40 miles (64km) wide,
a mountain chain forms the backbone and heavy
rainfall feeds short but swift rivers and streams leading
to forested hinterland and coastal swamps where
mosquitoes abound.
It was in this environment that Dixie then operated,
where rank did not matter and for survival, they all
worked as a team. His leader – with whom Dixie spent
most of his time in Bougainville, and greatly admired –
was Lieut. ‘Snowy’ Rhoades, RANVR. Dixie and Snowy,
widely separated by background and age, were
kindred spirits. It was during this period that radio
warnings of impending Japanese bombers and escorts
were regularly dispatched to the US Forces at Guadal -
canal to enable their defence preparedness in the air,
sea and on land, thus saving countless lives.
Because of their local knowledge and ability to
operate behind enemy lines, the Coastwatchers were
engaged in finding small isolated units and reporting
enemy positions. In December 1944 raiding parties
44 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian Commando Association ~ Edition 4 I 2020