War submarine hero Adam Bergius, aged 92

A Second World War submariner who was awarded the DSC for gallantry following a daring underwater mission to cut Japanese communication cables at the mouth of the Saigon River at the Mekong Delta has died aged 92.

In 1945, following training in the top secret X-Craft midget submarines in the lochs of north-west Scotland, Adam Bergius, then aged 20, received orders to cut communication cables between Japanese-held Hong Kong and Saigon.

Sub-Lieutenant Bergius and two other crew members were towed in submarine XE4 to the mouth of the Saigon River. Working in a dangerous depth of water he located and cut the all-important Japanese communications link.

Mr Bergius later recalled: “The cable lay about 40 feet from where our submarine had come to rest. The water was a bit muddier than Loch Striven where we had done our training, but I didn’t have much difficulty in finding the cable.

“We had been told to bring back a piece of the cable as proof that it had been well and truly cut. I still have that piece as a souvenir.”

The successful mission forced the Japanese to use wireless communications which could be intercepted and decoded.

After the war Mr Bergius carved a successful career in the whisky industry rising to become chairman of Wm Teacher & Son Ltd.

He died at his home in Achnaha, Glenbarr. He and wife Fiona, who died in 2011, had five children – Charles, Cara, Peter, Johnny and Pol.