Ian Edward Fraser
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Lt Cmdr Ian Edward Fraser VC, DSC, RD and Bar, is an English diving pioneer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
He was born in 1920 and attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe in England from September 1933 to December 1935. At 24 years old he became a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve during the Second World War. Fraser was awarded his VC for his part in a midget submarine attack in the Far East. He was commander of an improved X-boat, HM Midget Submarine XE-3.
On 31 July 1945 in the Straits of Johor, Singapore, Lieutenant Fraser, in command of XE-3, went to attack the Japanese heavy cruiser Takao, which was reached after a long and hazardous journey through mined waters. Fraser slid the submarine under the Takao, which lay over a depression in the sea bed, and his diver Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis went out to fix the limpet mines to the bottom of the ship. The XE-3's two side-charges then had to be released, but the starboard charge stuck and Magennis climbed out again and after a nerve-wracking five minutes released the charge. XE-3 then made for home. See also British commando frogmen#1945 and after. Magennis was also awarded a Victoria Cross, and Fraser became a lieutenant-commander.
[edit] After World War II
He realized that frogman-type diving (i.e. what is now called scuba diving) could do many sorts of underwater work that old-type heavy standard diving gear is unsuitable for. He and some associates got hold of war-surplus frogman's kit and set up a public show displaying frogman techniques in a big aquarium tank in Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester in England. This display was popular, and he used the show's takings to set up a commercial diving organization called Underwaterwork. One of his early calls was from the police to recover a little girl's body who had drowned in a pond in Denton, Greater Manchester.
He founded Merseyside branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) [1].
[edit] References
- British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
