PILGRIMAGE FOR NQ WAR HERO
Vietnam veteran’s plan to honour departed Digger
A Vietnam War veteran who has travelled the world conducting services at Australian battle memorials has special plans to pay homage to a dear departed Digger during a pilgrimage to Papua New Guinea.
Former Herbert River RSL President Rick Butler said he was planning to visit the town of Rabaul in East New Britain province on June 1 where Captain Alexander “Lex” Fraser of the 1st Independent Company was fatefully taken prisoner by Japanese forces in 1942 during World War II.
What followed was Australia’s worst maritime tragedy when United States Navy submarine ‘Sturgeon’ torpedoed and sunk the ‘ Montevideo Maru’ as it transported POWS and civilians from Rabaul to Japan, resulting in the deaths of more than 1000 Australians.
Mr Butler said Captain Fraser and the remaining officers were transported to Japan aboard a second Japanese ship and served the remainder of the war as a prisoner under brutal conditions.
He said that like many returned World War II servicemen, Captain Fraser rarely spoke about his service and never mentioned his years as a POW.
“The only thing he spoke about was losing his men and I don’t know whether or not he ever forgave himself.”
Mr Butler said the Japanese separated the enlisted men from the officers prior to departure for Japan to prevent the possibility of officers leading a revolt against their captors.
“He always thought that he should have been with his men and that he should have gone down with the ‘Montevideo Maru’.”
The veteran of the battle of Battle of Nui Le in 1971 said the mass loss of life was profoundly sad.
“To be sunk by a bloody allied submarine is worse still, all of those families would have been absolutely devastated.”
Mr Butler said Captain Fraser, who outlived wife Marion and passed in 2013 aged 94, was a well-known Ingham entrepreneur who owned multiple properties as well as a transport company.
He said Captain Fraser was a member of Rotary for many years and never forgot about his service in PNG.
“He would go to auctions in Townsville at a hospital or similar where they were getting rid of their beds or medical equipment and he would buy it and send it to New Guinea because they had nothing back in them early days,” Mr Butler said.
“Even though he was an entrepreneur and a businessman he still had a bloody heart of gold.” Mr Butler said Anzac Day commemorations in Ingham would be extra special this year with Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne expected to lead the parade through the town.
“Keith turns 90 this year and wants to do one last Anzac Day in Ingham,” he said. “We’re going to put him in up the front and he can lead the parade.”