257322 Pte. William John "Alec" Alexander British Army 6th Btn. South Wales Borderers from:Battersea, London (d.9th November 1944) My father was Jack Alexander, from Battersea. He enlisted in the 6th Battalion, South Wales Borderers on 17th of July 1940, a few weeks before my brother was born. He spent the next four years in Devon before being sent overseas to India on 18th of July 1944 with the 6th Battalion, arriving on 17th of August.
He was killed in action in Burma on 9th of November 1944 when he was 27 and I was nearly three months old. Obviously he hadn't seen me, but was aware that I'd been born. My brother was four years old and my mother only 24 at the time.
I don't know any details of his time spent serving his country, but I do know that my mother went on to have an extremely hard life, struggling to bring up two children with no support from anywhere except her recently widowed father. Coming from a very respectable family, she had to spend her life scrubbing floors for others, and living hand to mouth from day to day. She never got over losing my father, and was always frail, but put on a brave face to the world while wearing herself out working and looking after others. I looked after her until she died aged 82.
My mother didn't believe in charity, but was persuaded to ask the British Legion for help once when she was at a very low point. However, after being interviewed in a smokey room full of well fed, well dressed club members she was handed a food voucher for £1. She was absolutely humiliated and I'm told that she tore up the voucher there and then.
I am pleased that today's war widows are looked after financially, but feel very bitter that war heroes were not valued at that time and my mother had no help at all. There were no single parent families in those days, we were just poor and it really was a struggle to survive.
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