Born at Taree in 1896 to Robert and Elizabeth (nee Laurie), Alexander was the 8th of their 9 children. His father died in 1903 and his mother remarried in 1908 to Alexander Cameron in Taree.
Alexander enlisted with the 9th Reinforcements, 45th Infantry Battalion on the 8th of December 1916, aged 19 years and 10 months. Described as a farmer, he gave his next of kin as his mother, Mrs Elizabeth Ann Cameron of Barrington. On the 12th of December Alexander joined ‘B’ Company, 30th Battalion at Liverpool before being transferred to the 9th Reinforcements.
The 9th Reinforcements embarked at Sydney aboard ‘HMAT A68 Auchisis’ on the 24th of January 1917 and disembarked at Devonport, UK on the 27th of March. On arrival they joined the 12th Training Battalion. He reported sick and was admitted to hospital Codford on the 31st of March until the 18th of April. Having been given furlough from the 20th until the 4th of May, he was to report to the 3rd Can Depot, Hardcott afterward.
On the 11th of May Alexander was awarded 3 days forfeiture of pay by Major Rowland for being ‘Absent Without Leave’ from midnight until 1:30pm the day before. Alexander proceeded overseas from Southampton on the 16th of July arriving 4 ADBD, Havre the next day. On the 4th of August he departed to join his unit.
Prior to his arrival, the 45th Battalion had suffered heavy casualties during the Battles of Messines in June. The Battle of Passchendaele which had commenced in July and went until November 1917 was when Alexander arrived at his unit. The battle to which he arrived was for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders. Passchendaele lies on the last ridge east of Ypres, 5 miles from a junction of the Bruges-to- Kortrijk railway. The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army. Once Passchendaele Ridge had been captured, the Allied advance was to continue to a line from Thourout to Couckelaere.
While Christmas 1917 was a melancholy affair, the Germans were to be buoyed in the new year with reinforcements from the Russian front. Alexander was ‘Wounded in Action’ on the 7th of February 1918 by mustard gas and was sent to the 13th Australian Field Ambulance and then to 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station. On the 14th of February he was transferred to the 1st Canadian General Hospital, Etaples and eventually he embarked aboard the ‘HS Princess Elizabeth’ for England on the 25th of February. On arrival in England Alexander was admitted to the Southwark Military Hospital and was moved to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford on the 17th of April where he stayed until 4th of May. He then reported to 3 Con Depot at Hurdcott.
While he was away, in March during the German spring offensive, the 45th Battalion repelled repeated attacks that were concentrated at Dernancourt attempting to break through the Allied line. Later, when the Allies launched their own offensive, the Hundred Days Offensive, the 45th Battalion was heavily involved in the fighting that began on 8 August 1918, during which time it was credited with capturing a large number of German soldiers, as well as a number of artillery pieces and machine-guns.
Alexander proceeded overseas from Deverill via Folkestone on the 22nd of August to Havre on the 23rd and rejoined his unit on the 27th of August, in time for the battalion’s last major action, which was the Battle of the Hindenburg Line, on the 18th of September, when it seized outposts of the Hindenburg Line, around Le Verguier. Following this, the units of the Australian Corps were withdrawn from the line for reorganisation. Consequently, they did not take part in any further fighting before the armistice. Following the end of hostilities, the demobilisation process began, and the battalion’s numbers fell as men were repatriated to Australia.
Reporting sick to the 12th Australian Field Ambulance with influenza on the 26th of November, and being declared dangerously ill, was transferred to the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station on the 1st of December. Sadly, Alexander died of disease, Broncho Pneumonia on the 2nd of December 1918. He was buried at Le Cateau Military Cemetery
His personal effects were listed as Letters, Photos, 1 Pipe, 1 Pocket book, 1 Wallet, 1 Pocket knife, 1 Coin value 5 centimes, which were sent to Mrs. E. A. Cameron of Barrington, via Gloucester.
Elizabeth changed addresses a number of times after Alexander’s death. Alexander’s brother Robert (late of the 3rd Battalion, #3124), described their mother’s condition as frail and was spending time alternating between his family at 602 Crown Street, Surry Hills and his brothers at Elands via Wingham, giving the PO as correspondence address. She also spent some time on Sydney’s south coast giving her address as c/- Mrs Webber of Camden Haven. She was to pass away in the mid 1920’s.
