Alec Walter
Alec Walter was born in Widecombe on 10th July 1915.
Father: Fred Walter, Mother Elizabeth Townsend.
Alec had one sister; Daffodil b 1915.
He attended Widecombe School from April 1920 until May 1929. After leaving school he worked as a gardener. On 16th October 1937 Alec married Lillian Bessie Dowrick at St Pancras Church, Widecombe in the Moor. They had a daughter Alexandra* born in 1943.
In 1939 Alec joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and by 1942 was serving as a Leading Aircraftman. Alec was stationed at RAF Holme at Spalding on the Moor in Yorkshire. The Bomber Command base for RAF 101 squadron.
Following further extensive research, with the assistance of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission research volunteer, the facts surrounding the death of Leading Aircraftman Alec Walter have been established and confirmed.
Whilst serving as ground crew at RAF Holme at Spalding on the Moor, Yorkshire, Alec contracted ‘Acute Miliary Tuberculosis’ and died on 26th December 1942 attended at his bedside by an RAF Chaplain.
He is buried and commemorated by a CWGC Headstone in St Pancras Church yard, also on the War Memorial inside the Church.
*Alex never knew his daughter Alexandra who was born 4 months after his death. In the 1960’s Alexandra emigrated to the USA and in 1962 became an American citizen.
Alec Walter in Pictures
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Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments are shown alongside each photograph above.