Last updated 09:40, Wednesday, 12 November 2008

ONE of the last action heroes of Britain’s wartime midget submarine fleet has died in Furness.

BILL BUTTERS

He was mentioned in dispatches for his courage after being part of the four-man crew of a Barrow-built midget submarine XE4 named HMS Exciter.

While in enemy waters it successfully sent out divers to cut vital Japanese undersea communications cables.

HMS Exciter was one of four Barrow midget subs sent to the Far East as the war with Japan neared its end in 1945.

They were just 53ft long and 5ft 9ins wide.

Originally from Codsall in the West Midlands, Bill volunteered for the dangerous work and left Barrow with the little sub under tarpaulins on a secret night train bound for Scotland.

Later the crew trained in the China Sea where sharks, lethal sea snakes and jellyfish added to the danger.

Recalling his Far East adventures, Mr Butters said at the time of 2001 Submarine Centenary celebrations: “We had some good times and we had some bad times.

“We lost a couple of lads which put everybody’s thinking cap on.

“I wanted an adventurous time and I got it. I was lucky, I came back. The poor lads that didn’t, you feel for them.”

The mini subs were about to be sent on a fresh mission when America dropped the atom bomb on Japan hastening the war’s end.

The funeral of Mr Butters, who once ran Mill Brow Garage, is at Thorncliffe crematorium on Monday at 10.45am.

An honour guard will be mounted by the Barrow branch of the Submariners Association.

Its flag will be carried in front of the coffin which will be draped with a White Ensign naval flag.

Mr Butters featured in an interview in a film A Breed Apart – A Band of Brothers made by the Submariners Association nationally earlier this year.

His death leaves only three living survivors of British midget submarines.

Barrie Downer, secretary of the Barrow Submariners Association, said: “It was absolutely amazing really to go to sea in those things. I suppose in wartime you do what you need to do.”

Mr Butters was married to his wartime Barrow sweetheart Hazel. They separated in later life but stayed good friends.