SERVICE ABOVE SELF


JUNE 2020 : ISSUE 134


completed, President John Fernie introduced Eric Fraser, one of our newer club members, who talked about his life and career in the Royal Navy. With the use of Zoom, Eric provided members wi t h a f a s c i n a t i n g illustrated talk about his 37 years in the Navy. Er ic summar ised his career as varied, always interesting, challenging and enjoyable, with wide ranging changes in the Navy throughout those years - from 150 ships to 46, 80,000 people to 30,000, massive social changes with regards to opportunities for women, removal of prejudices and el iminat ion of the publ ic school background domination of officers. Eric had three major phases in his career, covering sea based, shore based and diplomatic duties, and as he put it, was “lucky” and often “in right place and r ight t ime”, leading to regular promotions up to Commodore by time of his retirement. Members were amazed by the wide range of duties and experiences given to Er i c , inc luding gradua t e scholarship by the Navy, variety of ships served in , including wooden hulled minesweeper, Hull trawler minesweeping in Falklands, through to modern Type 22 frigate command. With sea duties covering various war torn areas, fishery protection, “showing the flag” and chasing drug runners, Eric was able to demonstrate the huge range of activities covered by the Navy. Moving on to his time on shore, Eric told of how different, but no less challenging was that time in


A 4


fter the business of the meeting on the 5 t h M a y w a s


the Navy, particularly dealing with international armed forces l iaison, working in Washington in tricky diplomatic areas, dealing with aftermath of 9/11 etc. Despite the reduction in UK armed forces, Eric explained that there remains very high global respect for the service due to the high quality of staff and equipment, along with vast historical experience of UK in both peace and war.


It was very clear from


Eric’s talk, that whilst often in personal danger, frequently having to cope with very stressful conditions, his life in the Navy was very satisfying and often fun. He told an amusing story of meeting a Middle Eastern national in a bomb shelter, when he discovered that the man not only was a Rangers fan but followed the fortunes of Eric’s home team of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Now happily retired in his wife’s home town of St Andrews, since retirement he has carried out a range of activities including lobbying for the Scottish Veterans Commission. Members gave Eric a warm vote of thanks, led by Kyffin Roberts.


HMS Boxer


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