ALEXANDER, JAMES C. JR Sept 27, 1944 age 22 FOD Netherlands

JAMES C. ALEXANDER, JR b. Mar 14, 1922 Buffalo, New York d. Sept 27, 1944 Finding of Death Netherlands

Pfc 3653568 Army 325^th Glider Infantry 82^nd ABN Div Co. F

Buried Ardennes American Cemetery & Memorial, Liege, Belgium

Parents: James Cornelius b. 1888 & Ruby A. (Dickson)1892-1940 b. Canada
Siblings: Donald James 1910-1910, Virginia M. 1933
  

James Sr. was an express Mgr. for the railroad. Most likely that accounted for the family’s moving, especially going to Buffalo where young James was born. The father was tall with blue eyes and brown hair. In WWI according to his draft registration he worked for American Express Co. Detroit. The current house in on W. McNichols where the 1940 census shows they lived was built in 1942 according to online information. I know the homes on that section of McNichols; many were moved or lost their front yards during the widening of the road into a boulevard in the mid 1960’s. Best bet is the age of the home is incorrect on the Detroit property database; foreclosed and currently owned by the county Treasurer.

Ruby died Jun 6, 1940 after 7 days in U of M Hospital, Ann Arbor. It was an aneurysm. She is buried in Howell.

Sister Virginia was 8 years older than James. She married police officer Glenn Matevia in Detroit in 1933 when she was 19, he 33. They moved out to Van Buren Township where he became an auto factory service man.

James had only one year of high school by the time of 1940 census, but he didn’t register for the draft until June 1942. Reading the census data it becomes very apparent that a high school graduation was not that widespread. Finances played a role on completing high school in 1930’s Depression era America. Factory jobs payed steady wages needed by families. So it is unlikely to find photos of many of the Memorial students. When he registered in Belleville, MI he was 125 lbs, blue eyes black hair, 5’8” and worked at Belleville Industrial Ware Clock.

Troops 326th Glider Inf 82nd ABN

Glider infantry (also referred to as airlanding infantry esp. in British usage) was a type of airborne infantry in which soldiers and their equipment were inserted into enemy-controlled territory via military glider. Initially developed in the late 1930s by Germany, glider infantry units were used extensively during World War II but are no longer used by any modern military. The crews of these aircraft landed their gliders in circumstances which would challenge the most seasoned pilot. Sometimes flying in at night they had but a few moments to pick a likely landing spot, avoid the other gliders making similar approaches and those already on the ground, avoid incoming enemy fire and then land the aircraft without crashing into any trees, ditches or enemy erected anti-troop stakes (called by pilots in Normandy "Rommel's asparagus"), and do so softly so as to ensure that the aircraft and/or cargo were not damaged in the process. Firstly, glider infantry are loaded into gliders which are attached to towing aircraft by a cable. The loaded gliders are then towed through the air by towing aircraft and flown to a release point usually just beyond the hearing range of enemy troop.  The tow cables are then released and the gliders would be piloted, without engine power, to a designated landing zone. Once the gliders landed, the troops and equipment would disembark and enter combat. Glider pilots were often organized together after landing to fight or be extracted to safety.

The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment was formed and given the task of arriving into battle by glider.  Parachutes could, and often did, wind up scattered for miles on a drop zone.  The same held true for equipment and supplies.  The glider was the answer to all these problems.  As long as a glider stayed in one piece, the items inside it would too.  This meant no more searching through the swamp looking for the missing barrel to a Howitzer.  Jeeps could also fit into a glider.  Best of all, troops could be put into a glider and land as a coherent fighting unit.  Gliderborne assaults, however, were not without their risks.  Gliders and their tow planes were slow, fat targets.  They had no armor to protect the men inside.  Landing in a glider was also an adventure and little more than a controlled crash.  Even if the pilot had the time and altitude to select a good spot to land, conditions on the ground of which he might be totally ignorant could wreck a landing.  Ditches, wire, fences, tree stumps or a host of other possible ailments could flip, twist, or gut an unfortunate glider.

James died 2 days after the end of the disastrous Operation Mart Garden effort to take Arnhem.