Cemetery: Toronto (Mount Hope) Cemetery
Country: Canada
Area: Ontario
Rank: Captain
Force: Army
Official Number:
Unit: Algoquin Regiment
Country of Service: Canadian
Details: Died August 26th 1945.Awarded the MBE in Newfoundland for saving many lives when the camp blew up; hit 3 times at the Leopold Canal and captured (bullets still in him); returned home when POW camp liberated; had surgery in Toronto to remove the bullets and died on the operating table.<br /><br /><br /><br />Tommy Alexander attended Trinity College School in Port Hope from 1936 to 39, but did his last year at De La Salle College, Toronto, and he packed more excitement and adventure in his few adult years than most of us could in a lifetime. Tommy was a Captain in the Algonquin Regiment, but because of the regiment’s lack of experience they were sent to do garrison duties in Newfoundland while training continued. It was while there in1942 that a sentry loading his weapon accidentally set off a huge store of dynamite, completely levelling the camp, killing five and seriously injuring eleven others. It was the prompt action by Tommy Alexander, and without regard for his own safety, that saved many others from certain death, for which he was awarded the MBE (Member of The Order of the British Empire). <br /><br />The regiment eventually made it to Normandy in July 1944 and fought its way through France and into Belgium. In September, Captain Alexander with the men in his Bren Carrier patrol attempted to silence a machine gun that was impeding their advance on the Leopold Canal, but the enemy got the advantage. Two were killed, five were wounded and taken captive, and only three escaped. Alexander was struck three times, two of the bullets lodging in him - one in the neck and the other in the side. He ordered his men to withdraw and find safety, while he provided covering fire, because there was no way he was about to escape the situation. As a result, he spent the next seven months in a prisoner of war camp with those bullets still inside him. The fact that they were there was more annoyance than painful, and he once walked eight miles to be X-Rayed, only to be assured by the Germans that there was nothing to be concerned about. <br /><br />Tommy’s camp was liberated in April ‘45, which gave him a chance to come home from the war early. He took a trip to Algonquin Park in Northern Ontario and then returned to Toronto to have those bullets removed. But during what should have been a fairly routine operation something went wrong, and Tommy’s heart stopped. It took a number of minutes to get his heart going again, but he never regained consciousness. He died three weeks later. And so Tommy Alexander, a Captain in The Algonquin Regiment, an MBE, wounded three times, a POW and a returned hero - all by the age of 24, was laid to rest in Mount Hope, Toronto. He is referred to in the regimental history as: the “youngster” in the mess, the ever-cheerful, ever-willing officer…his energetic and courageous leadership of the carrier platoon in the dash across France and Belgium, had hastened our advance immeasurably. <br /><br />Source: The Toronto Star; Regimental History of the Algonquin Regiment<br /><br />
Photograph by Murt Howell