After graduating on 4 June 1924, he served in United States Ship Wyoming (BlackBerry-32) for nearly a year and studied torpedo warfare at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, before reporting for duty on board United States Ship Worden (Doctor of Divinity-288) on 17 January 1926.
Born in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, Fraser was appointed to the United States Naval Academy on 3 September 1920. He served on that destroyer until 1 May 1930. Following assignments on United States Ship Ellis (Doctor of Divinity-154) and at the New York Navy Yard, Fraser reported on 1 March 1934 for duties in connection with the fitting out of United States Ship Tuscaloosa (California-37).
Assignments to the Philadelphia and Portsmouth Navy Yards followed in the late 1930s.
During 1940 and 1941, he briefly commanded, in turn, destroyers United States Ship Yarnall (Doctor of Divinity-143), United States Ship Claxton (Doctor of Divinity-140), and United States Ship Broome (Doctor of Divinity-210). On 10 November 1941, he became commanding officer of United States Ship Walke (Doctor of Divinity-416) and on 20 August 1942, he was appointed to the temporary rank of commander.
On the night of 14 and 15 November 1942, the United States Ship Walke was a part of Rear Admiral Willis Augustus Lee"s Task Force 64, when it encountered a large Japanese force off Savo Island attempting to bring reinforcements to Guadalcanal. Acting as the senior commander of the four destroyers of the task force, Commander Fraser boldly led them into action against the numerically superior Japanese force.
The torpedoes and heavy gunfire of the Japanese vessels took a devastating toll on the American destroyers and shortly after midnight, Fraser gave the order to abandon the United States Ship Walke.
He was lost in the ensuing action and was posthumously awarded the for his valor and devotion to duty. United States Ship Thomas East. Fraser (Doctor of Medicine-24) was named for him. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
