Lieutenant George M. Alexander

We are fortunate that we hold in the collection a number of personal diaries and letters written by soldiers serving in The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). These documents can provide fascinating glimpses into war as experienced by the soldiers who were there, while others remind us of the pain and suffering that war can bring.

This letter wasn’t written by a soldier, but by the wife of an officer who was killed in the Second World War. Lieutenant George Murdoch Alexander was killed on 30th July 1944, while serving with the 9th Battalion Cameronians. His widow wrote this letter to a friend, in reply to a letter of sympathy. The black border on the paper is a sign that the writer is in mourning:

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In response to words of sympathy from her friend, Margaret, Elizabeth Alexander writes:

I just can’t realise that now he’s never coming back. Everyone has been so kind, and they have all said that time will heal. But I don’t think that it really brings forgetfulness. It is only that a little of the soreness leaves the heart as the weeks go past. At first it seemed as though the bottom had dropped right out of my world, but now as I slowly return to normal, I am realising that his two sons are his sacred trust to me and please God, I shall be worthy of that trust. When I look at them, I know that he is not lost to me entirely.

Mrs Alexander goes on to give the circumstances under which her husband was killed, as told by the Commanding Officer of the 9th Battalion Cameronians, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Villiers DSO:

I had a letter from Col. Villiers last week. He was his C.O. in France. He said that he was killed in the action which ultimately led to the big push which we are now having. He was leading his men against an enemy strong point across the River Orne and he says that I can be proud that he died so heroically. God knows it didn’t take this to make me proud of him. He was buried with eight of his men in a small regimental cemetery in a lovely little orchard on the banks of the river. A cross has been erected over his grave and the name of the regiment, Cameronians, was written out in flowers at the foot of all their graves.

She finishes her letter with:

I hope that Isa’s, Bessie’s, and your husband are spared to come back to you, my hopes and dreams are buried in a little orchard somewhere in France.

Your Sincere Friend

Elizabeth Alexander.

Lieutenant George Alexander

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