Ronald Angus FRASER

FRASER, Ronald Angus

Service Number: NX68894
Enlisted: 5 March 1941
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: Lark Force
Born: Boggabri, New South Wales, Australia, 7 March 1919
Home Town: Boggabri, Narrabri, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Died at sea (Montevideo Maru), South China Sea, 1 July 1942, aged 23 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Commemorated: - Panel 13, Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
Memorials: Australian Commando Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Rabaul Memorial, Rabaul Montevideo Maru Memorial
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, NX68894
5 Mar 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX68894
1 Jul 1942: Discharged Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX68894, Lark Force, Died at sea aboard the Japanese prisoner of war transport vessel, Montevideo Maru in the South China Sea on 1st July 1942, when it was sunk by American submarine USS Sturgeon.

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Biography contributed by Dianne Black

Parents:- William Symon Fraser and Alice Victoria Studd married 1904 in Victoria.

Fate: - Private Fraser enlisted on 5th March 1941 and served in New Britain. Following the Japanese invasion of January 1942, he was taken prisoner of war (POW) and held at Rabaul. On 22 June 1942, Private Fraser was one of an estimated 845 POWs and 209 civilians who embarked from Rabaul aboard the Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of 2/22 Battalion, No. 1 Independent Company, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines.

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