Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edward Alexander served as a police constable prior to enlisting. When the First World War broke out, Australian men from all backgrounds and professions were called to serve their country. Members of the Victorian Police force were some of the first to answer the call with twenty men joining the first convoy of soldiers who left Australian shores in October 1914. Over the course of four long years, one hundred and thirty-eight Victorian Police enlisted from stations across the state. Of these, twenty-seven lost their lives.

His younger brother 3686 Private John Alexander 5th Battalion AIF was killed in action at Pozieres 25 July 1916, aged 23. 

From François Berthout

Spr Edward ALEXANDER
 
In the fields of France, more than a hundred years ago, fought and fell a whole generation of young men who today, in the poppy fields of the Somme, in silence and in the serenity of a calm deserved after so much of suffering and pain, rest in peace under the innumerable rows of their graves on which, more than names, tell us the story of these men, the story of young boys who, in war, became men and who, in the hearts of the French people for whom they did so much, became our sons, heroes, heroes whom I call today with respect and affection, my boys of the Somme on whom I would watch, today and forever for that their memories and their stories remain alive forever, they were men and all answered the call of duty and on the grounds of France, for their country which they made proud, they gave their today, their lives and which today, tomorrow, forever, will always be remembered and honored with the utmost respect.
Today, it is with the utmost respect and gratitude, with all my heart that I would like to honor the memory of one of these men, one of my boys of the Somme.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Sapper number 10202 Edward Alexander who fought in the 10th Field Company Engineers of the Australian Engineers,3rd Australian Division, and who died of his wounds 103 years ago, on April 19, 1918 at the age of 32 on the Somme front.

Edward Alexander was born on February 28, 1886 in Richmond, Victoria, Australia, and was the son of Charles William Alexander and Margaret Alexander, of Dookie, Greater Shepparton, Victoria. Alexander was educated at Dookie State School, Victoria and after graduation he worked as a bricklayer. Before the outbreak of the war, Edward served as a police constable in Melbourne, Victoria, and lived at Police Station, Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria.

When the First World War broke out, Australian men from all backgrounds and professions were called to serve their country. Members of the Victorian Police force were some of the first to answer the call with twenty men joining the first convoy of soldiers who left Australian shores in October 1914. Over the course of four long years, one hundred and thirty-eight Victorian Police enlisted from stations across the state. Of these, twenty-seven lost their lives.
Enlisted on January 10, 1916 in Melbourne in the 10th Field Company Engineers of the Australian Engineers, 3rd Australian Division, he embarked with his unit from Melbourne, on board HMAT A54 Runic on June 20, 1916 and sailed for Plymouth, England.
The 3rd Division thus had the 9th 10th and 11th Field Company of Engineers on strength.

During the first world war, the Engineers undertook a raft of tasks broadly divided into mobility, counter mobility and construction as well as survey and mapping, and specialised tunnelling and mining operations. The Field Companies' scope of works concentrated on the former rather than the latter.

They undertook a broad range of tasks including preparation and supervision of the construction of defensive and gun positions, excavation of trenches and dugouts, erection of wire and other obstacles, preparation of command posts, signalling and water supply, field engineering, road and bridge construction and route maintenance. They also undertook obstacle breaching and crossing. For example in the lead up to the attack at Mont St Quentin the Engineers were required to carry out two river crossing / bridging operations.

Engineers also had responsibility for signalling although this function became more specialised as the war progressed, eventually leading to the creation of a separate Signals Corps.

On August 10, 1916, Edward was disembarked in Plymouth and was sent to Codford to receive his training on Salisbury Plain and three months later, on November 23, 1916, he embarked with his unit for France where he arrived the next day,on November 24 then sent to the Somme front where he fought with great courage.

on February 20, 1918, after terrible fighting in the Somme, Edward was awarded a permission and was sent to England where he remained until March 9 and was sent back to France, with his unit in the Somme, in the area of Villers-Bretonneux to face and stop the German offensive of spring 1918.

Unfortunately, it was a month later, on April 19, 1918,at Bonnay, near Villers-Bretonneux that Edward was seriously wounded by a bullet and was evacuated to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station in Vignacourt but he died when he was admitted, he was 32 years old.

Today, Edward Alexander rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Vignacourt British Cemetery, Somme.

Edward, you who bravely served your country in the trenches of the great war, in the mud of the battlefields, it is today in a very beautiful and peaceful corner of France, in the Somme that you rest in peace with your comrades and for all that you have done for us, for my country, I would like, with all my heart and standing in front of you, with the greatest respect to say thank you.Young and proud, all together, friends, brothers, fathers and sons all answered the call to duty and were ready to do their part, they came together, strong and determined, ready to fight the good fight and defend values that united them and who guided them through the roads of the north of France, through the fields of poppies and into the trenches where, during four years of an endless nightmare, they fought with honor and devotion, with the most incredible of courage to make justice and freedom triumph, to bring peace to future generations. Young and smiling, they arrived in France, confident, brave, they walked through the towns and villages of the north of France with on their faces, smiles that remained engraved in the hearts of the French people and who, seeing these young men, knew that peace would soon be there.walking side by side, with conviction, dragging mud and dust under their shoes, they saw in the distance, on the horizon, a dark sky torn by thousands of lightning, the bright lights of the shells which pierced the clouds in long sprays of flames. Soon they left behind them peaceful and silent fields, fields of poppies, the last moments of peace and silence before reaching the trenches.Fearless, They took their first steps in the narrow, muddy and cold trenches and soon, the enemy artillery, in its destructive rage, rained a deluge of fire on their positions, under an infernal avalanche of sharp steel which pulverized every inches of land in terrible explosions which threw in the air, tons of mud and blood which fell on the helmets and the faces of these young men who lost their youth and their innocence and who, in this hell, became men who would forever be marked by the horrors they went through.Overwhelmed by sorrows and pains, their hearts and their determination were never broken and it was together, in the friendship that united these young men, in brotherhood and in comradeship that they learned to overcome their fears that they shared in mud and blood, in the shell holes they shared and in which they lived day and night, surrounded by death and desolation on the battlefield. They placed their lives in the hands of their own. comrades for whom they fought and who gave them the strength and courage to move forward, the courage to go beyond their limits and it is together, under bullets, under fire from machine guns, rifles and grenades that they all went over the top and charged forward, their gaze towards the enemy trenches and their destinies, they went under fire, through the barbed wire in which many of them collapsed, stopped in the prime of their lives.Without fear, they fought as they lived, with bravery and it is together, in a last assault, in a last charge, that they fell and that they shed their blood, the bayonets of their rifles in the ground, the helmet on the butt, resting forever where they had fallen; they were young and died as they lived, bravely.Today, everything is calm and silent again and the battlefields have disappeared under the fields of poppies, in a serene nature and always side by side, these men who lived in the fury and in the pains of a world in war have found the peace they fought for and gave their lives for,they rest in peace together forever young and will always be remembered and honored with respect.we will always keep their memory and their stories alive so that these heroes can forever stand proud.I will always watch over their graves and their history so that they are never forgotten and so that they will live forever by our side, in our hearts and in our thoughts, they will always be remembered with love and respect.Thank you so much Edward,for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.