Young N.G. Airman Now
p. 21 · Read in the full issue
Presumed Dead
ALHOUGH the war has been over for a year, the death in action over Germany of Flying Officer Bryan Patrick Fraser was only recently con firmed.
This lad. who was only 21 at the time of his death, was the son of Mr. and Mrs.
R. W. Fraser, of Brisbane, and the nephew of the Leahy brothers, well known miners and business men of the Morobe District, New Guinea.
Before the war, young Bryan Fraser was with the Bulolo Gold Dredging Co. at Bulolo, and at the outbreak of war, although only a youngster, he joined the local unit of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles. He participated, with the sth Independent Company, in the first com mando raid on Salamaua, and on one occasion as a special runner, walked from Wau to Bulldog (Papua) in two days.
After the main body of the AIF arrived in New Guinea, he enlisted in the RAAF and, after training, was sent to Britain, where his squadron was attached to the
Raf.
He went on many raids over Germany, took part in the battle of Caen, in Nor mandy, and the bombing of the Kiel Canal. His last operation was over Stuttgart, on July 24, 1944 and from this raid he did not return.
He was posted “missing,” and only re cently have his parents been notified that he has been officially “presumed dead,” from that date.