Editing Ian Edward Fraser

{{short description|Royal Navy Victoria Cross recipient (1920–2008)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Ian Edward Fraser
|image= Ian Fraser VC WWII IWM 26940A.jpg
|image_size= 
|alt= 
|caption= 
|nickname= 
|birth_date= {{birth date|df=yes|1920|12|18}} 
|birth_place= [[Ealing]], [[Middlesex]], England
|death_date= {{Death date and age|df=yes|2008|09|1|1920|12|18}}
|death_place= [[Metropolitan Borough of Wirral|Wirral]], [[Merseyside]], England
|placeofburial= [[Landican]], Merseyside, England
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[Royal Navy]]
|serviceyears= 1939&ndash;1966
|rank= [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|Lieutenant commander]]
|servicenumber= 
|unit= 
|commands= [[XE-3]]
|battles= 
|awards= [[Victoria Cross]]<br/>[[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]]<br/>[[Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve]]<br/>[[Officer of the Legion of Merit]] (United States)
|relations= 
|laterwork= [[Scuba Diving]] pioneer
}}
'''Ian Edward Fraser''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|VC|DSC|RD|JP}} (18 December 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an English [[Underwater diving|diving]] pioneer, sailor and recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces. Fraser was born in [[Ealing]] in [[Middlesex]] and went to school in [[High Wycombe]]. After initially working on merchant ships and serving in the [[Royal Naval Reserve]], he joined the [[Royal Navy]] at the start of the [[Second World War]]. After being awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]] for actions while serving on submarines, he was placed in command of a midget submarine during an attack in Singapore codenamed [[Operation Struggle]]. For his bravery in navigating the mined waters, and successfully placing mines on a Japanese cruiser, Fraser was awarded the Victoria Cross.

After retiring from the Royal Navy, Fraser set up a commercial diving organisation after realising the ease of use of new [[frogman]]-type diving equipment. After serving in several honorary positions on the [[Metropolitan Borough of Wirral|Wirral]], Fraser retired from the Royal Naval Reserve as a [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|lieutenant commander]] in 1965. He died on 1 September 2008, on the Wirral, Merseyside.

==Early life==
Fraser was born in [[Ealing]] in 1920. He was the elder son of Sydney Fraser, a [[engineering officer (ship)|marine engineer]]. He attended the [[Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe]], and the school ship {{HMS|Conway|school ship|6}}.<ref name=Unithistories>{{cite web |url=http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNR_officersF.html |title=Royal Naval Reserve Officers 1939&ndash;1945 |publisher=UnitHistories |access-date=2008-09-02}}</ref> He worked on [[Merchant Navy|merchant ships]] from 1938 to 1939.<ref name=Ashcroft>{{cite book|last=Ashcroft|first=Michael|title=Victoria Cross Heroes|year=2007|orig-year=2006|publisher=Headline Review|location=London, United Kingdom|isbn=978-0-7553-1633-5|pages=336–339}}</ref>

==Second World War==
Fraser joined the [[Royal Naval Reserve]] in 1939, initially with the rank of [[midshipman]], serving on several destroyers.<ref name=Ashcroft/> In 1943, he joined the [[submarine]] {{HMS|Sahib|P212|6}}. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1943 for "bravery and skill in successful submarine patrols."<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35967 |date=6 April 1943 |page=1584 |supp=y }}</ref> In 1944, at age 24, he became a [[lieutenant]] in the Royal Naval Reserve, and volunteered to serve on the [[XE-class submarine|'X' craft midget submarine]] depot ship {{HMS|Bonaventure|F139|6}} from 7 November 1944 to July 1945.

Ian Fraser was played by actor [[Martin Delaney (actor)|Martin Delaney]] in a TV show entitled, ''Victoria Cross Heroes''. The show was narrated in part by [[Charles, Prince of Wales]]. It tells the story of Fraser's attempt to sink the ''Takao'' on a secret mission aboard a midget submarine.

On 31 July 1945 in the [[Straits of Johor]] between [[Singapore]] and [[Peninsular Malaysia|Malaya]], Lieutenant Fraser, in command of an improved [[XE class submarine|X-boat]], HMS ''XE-3'', attacked the Japanese [[heavy cruiser]] [[Japanese cruiser Takao (1930)|''Takao'']], after making a long and hazardous journey through [[naval mine|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 mine]]s to the bottom of the ship. The two side-charges then had to be released from ''XE-3'', but the starboard charge stuck and Magennis climbed out again and after a nerve-wracking seven minutes released the charge. ''XE-3'' then made for home. Magennis was also awarded a [[Victoria Cross]], and Fraser became a [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|lieutenant commander]].<ref name=Gazette>{{London Gazette|issue=37346|supp=y|pages=5529–5530|date=9 November 1945}}</ref>

The citation was published in a supplement to the ''[[London Gazette]]'' of 9 November 1945 (dated 13 November 1945) and read:<ref name=Gazette />

{{blockquote|ADMIRALTY

''Whitehall, 13th&nbsp;November, 1945.''

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS for valour to: —

[...]

Lieutenant Ian Edward FRASER, D.S.C., R.N.R.

Lieutenant Fraser commanded His Majesty's Midget Submarine XE-3 in a successful attack on a Japanese heavy cruiser of the Atago class at her moorings in Johore Strait, Singapore, on 31st&nbsp;July, 1945. During the long approach up the Singapore Straits XE-3 deliberately left the believed safe channel and entered mined waters to avoid suspected hydrophone posts. The target was aground, or nearly aground, both fore and aft, and only under the midship portion was there just sufficient water for XE-3 to place herself under the cruiser. For forty minutes XE-3 pushed her way along the seabed until finally Lieutenant Fraser managed to force her right under the centre of the cruiser.
Here he placed the limpets and dropped his main side charge. Great difficulty was experienced in extricating the craft after the attack had been completed, but finally XE-3 was clear, and commenced her long return journey out to sea. The courage and determination of Lieutenant Fraser are beyond all praise. Any man not possessed of his relentless determination to achieve his object in full, regardless of all consequences, would have dropped his side charge alongside the target instead of persisting until he had forced his submarine right under the cruiser. The approach and withdrawal entailed a passage of 80 miles through water which had been mined by both the enemy and ourselves, past [[hydrophone]] positions, over loops and controlled minefields, and through an anti-submarine boom.}}

His VC is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the [[Imperial War Museum]], London.

==Later life==
* 1946: Fraser was awarded the American decoration of [[Legion of Merit]], Degree of Officer.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37805 |date=29 November 1946 |page=5912 |supp=y }}</ref>
* 1947: Fraser left the Royal Navy, but he remained in the [[Royal Naval Reserve]]. He set up a commercial diving firm.
* 1953: He was promoted to [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|lieutenant commander]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39193 |date=6 April 1951 |page=1821 }}</ref>
* 1957: Fraser's [[autobiography]] ''Frogman VC'' was published.<ref>''Frogman V.C.'', hardback, publ. 1957 in UK by Angus & Robertson</ref>
* 1957: He became a [[Justice of the Peace]] in [[Wallasey]].
* 16 August 1963: He was awarded a [[Medal bar|clasp]] to his [[Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43089 |date=23 August 1963 |page=7096 }}</ref>
* 18 December 1965: He left the Royal Naval Reserve.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43974 |date=6 May 1966 |page=5450 }}</ref>
* 1980: He became a Younger Brother of [[Trinity House]].
* 1993: He was made an honorary [[Freedom of the City|freeman]] of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Wirral]].
* 1 September 2008: Fraser died aged 87 at [[Arrowe Park Hospital]], after a three-week illness. He was survived by his wife Melba, and 5 of his 6 children, and 13 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/09/02/merseyside-war-hero-ian-fraser-dies-100252-21658649/#Obituary |title=Merseyside war hero Ian Fraser dies |date=2008-09-01 |newspaper=Liverpool Echo |access-date=2008-09-02}}</ref> He was cremated at [[Landican]] cemetery, [[Birkenhead]].<ref name=vcgl>[http://victoria.cross.org.uk/liverpoo.htm]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Grave Locations for holders of the Victoria Cross in the City of Liverpool.</ref>

===Scuba diving===
Realising that [[frogman]]-type diving (i.e. what is now called [[scuba diving]]) could do many sorts of underwater work unsuitable for the old-type heavy [[standard diving gear]], he and some associates got hold of war-surplus frogman's kit and set up a popular public show displaying frogman techniques in a big [[aquarium]] tank in [[Belle Vue Zoo]] in [[Manchester]] in [[England]]. One of his early calls to underwater work was from the [[police]] to recover the body of a little girl who had drowned in a pond in [[Denton, Greater Manchester]].

Using the show's takings, and with his younger brother Brian Fraser, he set up a commercial diving organisation called Universal Divers Ltd,<ref name=Unithistories/> of which he was [[managing director]]  from 1947 to 1965 and, since 1983 (as former [[chairman]]).

In January 1961 Universal Divers Ltd was involved in underwater survey on damage caused to the [[Severn Railway Bridge]] by collision by two [[barge]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://istructe.org/thestructuralengineer/HC/getfile.asp?id=2429 |title=An investigation into the cause of damage to the Severn Railway Bridge |last=Mason |first=Peter |publisher=Structural Engineer Archive |date=1 February 1963 |access-date=2008-09-02 }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[British commando frogmen#1945 and after|British commando frogmen]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906020742/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2670609/Ian-Fraser.html Daily Telegraph obituary]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100523125556/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4662850.ece The Times obituary]
* [http://www.magicnet.net/~westham/vc04aa.html#Fraser Magennis and Ian Fraser]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009605 Imperial War Museum Interview]

{{Underwater diving|unddiv}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Ian Edward}}
[[Category:British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ealing]]
[[Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe]]
[[Category:English underwater divers]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Navy submarine commanders]]
[[Category:Officers of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:Frogman operations]]
[[Category:Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:People educated aboard HMS Conway]]
[[Category:Professional divers]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Reserve personnel]]
[[Category:Members of Trinity House]]