ONE of the last surviving crew members of the Second World War XE midget submarines - Bruce Graham Clarke has died aged 95.

Mr Clarke won the Distinguished Service Cross for his role in a mission to cut undersea telephone cables, which forced the Japanese to use radio and leave themselves open to message interception.

Born in Edinburgh on September 9, 1922, Mr Clarke was educated at the Tower House Prep and University College Schools in London.

His father was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy serving on HMS Pembroke, and in 1941 he joined the senior service himself.

Initially serving aboard destroyers, escorting convoys in the North Sea and in the Mediterranean, Mr Clarke later took part in Operation Torch in Northwest Africa.

In 1943 he volunteered to crew the Royal Navy’s midget submarines, training in Scotland.

In July and August, 1945, Mr Clarke was among the crew of XE.5 which took part in Operation Foil - to cut the Hong Kong to Singapore telegraph cable west of Lamma Island, running under Hong Kong harbour.

In his report of the operation, commanding officer Lieutenant H.P. Westmacott wrote: "Whilst trying to clear the grapnel, S/Lt Clarke had caught his finger in the cutter, cut it very deeply and fractured the bone.

"It is impossible to praise too highly the courage and fortitude which enabled him to make his entry into the craft in this condition.

"Had he not done so, apart from becoming a prisoner, it is probable that the operation would have had to be abandoned for fear of being compromised."

Mr Clarke was demobilised in 1946.

After brief spells working in India and Africa, he joined the Overseas Civil Service and enjoyed successful career in Kenya.

In 1955 he married Joan in Nakuru, Kenya. The family moved to Aden in 1957, and in 1962 he retired from the service and joined the East African Power & Light Company in then-Tanganyika.

Mr Clarke and his family settled in Boscombe in 1967.

For a brief period, he and his wife Joan bought and let property but soon they moved on to restoring antique china, porcelain and furniture, until Joan’s death in 1982.

In retirement, Mr Clarke returned to his hobby of oil painting, producing fine copies of the old masters.

A long-time Freemason, he was a member of Winston Churchill’s Lodge in London and in 1986 he joined the Lodge of Meridian in Dorset and was Chaplain of the Lodge for many years.

For 16 years Mr Clarke lived with his daughter Sue, her husband Kim and their family until he moved to a flat in a block for older people. He died on December 7.