b. ? d. ?
DATE OF AM ACTION: 02/05/1916 Hesdin, France.
Very little is known about Private Alexander Anderson of the Army Service Corps, who arrived in France on 2nd May 1915. He survived the war, and was demobbed to the Class Z Reserve on 2nd July 1919. He was presented with his Albert Medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 24th January 1917.
AM CITATION:
On 2nd May last, whilst a German 21-centimetre shell, in which several holes had been bored, was being “steamed” in a laboratory for the purpose of investigation, the box of shavings in which it was packed caught fire. The officer in charge of the laboratory at once sent for help to the nearest Army Service Corps fire station, ordered all persons to leave the building, and warned the inhabitants of the neighbouring houses that a serious explosion was imminent.
On receipt of the request for help, Lieutenant Rowlandson, with Walton, Anderson and Lawrence, at once collected fire extinguishers and proceeded by motor to the laboratory. They entered the building, played on the fire (which had spread considerably), and after about two minutes were able to reach the burning shell, which they dragged into the yard and extinguished there. At any moment after the fire broke out the shell might have exploded with disastrous results.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
