Albany veteran and former RSL president Laurie Fraser has been an integral part of Albany’s commemoration of its servicepeople over the years, and is now set to have his story immortalised in print.
Michael Page’s biography of the decorated veteran is set to be launched at the Albany RSL this Saturday.
Born in Perth in 1938, Mr Fraser had a tumultuous childhood, but rose from humble beginnings to be a respected serviceman and community stalwart.
His grandfather, Gilbert Fraser, served as Speaker of the Upper House of the Parliament of WA, but in what biographer Mr Page likens to a “Dickensian turn of fate”, his father was disowned and died young from tuberculosis, leaving Mr Fraser and his two brothers orphaned.
After an adolescence in boys’ homes and foster care, Mr Fraser joined the army in 1956, and completed infantry training at Kapooka in New South Wales, before being deployed first to Malaya with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, fighting communist insurgents.
From there, he went on to join the Special Air Services in its early days as a small Company, serving with them in Borneo and then two tours in Vietnam as a patrol commander.
By 1974, Mr Fraser had risen steadily through the ranks of the SAS to become their Regimental Sergeant Major, the ultimate soldier’s appointment.
However, many Albany residents know him not for his years of service, but for what he contributed later in life.
After moving to Albany, he went on to serve the community as president of the Albany RSL sub-branch, president of charity Legacy WA, and as a senior Freemason.
“Just one of these appointments would be enough for most men, but not for Laurie,” Mr Page said.
Mr Page, who is a former serviceman himself and has known Mr Fraser since the 1980s, said Mr Fraser’s biography had been in the works for more than a decade.
At first, he said, Mr Fraser was not keen on the idea, but later changed his mind, and so the long process of penning his life story began.
“There was a lot to be learned and researched, particularly about his family, who he didn’t know much about,” Mr Page said.
“Most veterans find it significantly easier to tell their stories to other veterans or military servicemen, because there is a certain understanding there that civilians just don’t have, so that made it easier for us, I think.”
Mr Page sent the story back to Mr Fraser chapter by chapter as he wrote it, slowly collating his life story from his early years to his memories of the Army, then his post-service life in Albany.
Fellow Albany RSL stalwart Peter Aspinall wrote the foreword for the book, and recalled the first time he met Mr Fraser on Anzac Day 2005.
He described coming across a man in an SAS beret ordering the marching veterans and other parade personnel into place like a true Regimental Sergeant Major.
Mr Aspinall became vice president of the Albany RSL in 2007, with Mr Fraser as his president.
During their time on the committee, it was Mr Fraser who was the key driving force behind a submission to the Federal Government that culminated in the opening of the National Anzac Centre in 2014.
“The centre is now recognised as the second most significant war museum in Australia,” Mr Aspinall said.
“It all commenced with an initiative by Laurie Fraser of which he has every right to feel personal satisfaction and pride.
“Laurie’s recollection of events and incidents in his life is prodigious and those who served in the army pre-Vietnam, as I did, will find his recollections carrying one back to a long-passed era.
“Michael Page has constructed, from Laurie’s mountain of memories, a wonderfully compelling portrait of a man who has given most of his life to service both militarily through his army career and compassionately through his dedication to Legacy.”
The Albany RSL will host the launch of A Warrior’s Story: Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Bloody Way’ on September 26 from 4pm until 6pm at the group’s Stirling Terrace clubrooms.
Tickets to the launch can be purchased through Paperbark Merchants in York Street or at the RSL on the day.
Signed copies of the book, by both Mr Fraser and Mr Page, along with the man himself, will be available at the book launch.
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