Alexander undertook pilot training in the USA and Canada following his commission into the RAF. He joined 49 Squadron in July 1943 from where he later moved to 83 Squadron.

Based at RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire the squadron flew the Avro Lancaster operating as a marker unit [Pathfinder] for the main force of Bomber Command. Alexander had completed a number of sorties over Germany earlier in 1943 when at 17:37 hrs on 26^th November, Lancaster JB459 [OL-T] with a crew of seven took off from RAF Wyton for a raid over Berlin. His aircraft crashed at Seelenberg, 3 km NW of Oberreifenberg in the early hours of Saturday 27^th November 1943.  All onboard lost their lives and they remain buried together alongside one another in the cemetery at Durnbach, Germany. Alexander was aged 21.

Son of Mr & Mrs James Smeaton of Dunfermline, Scotland.

A copy of this story is available for download here.

See also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission permanent digital memorial, ‘Evermore: Stories of the fallen’ relating to:-
 F/Officer Alexander Bruce SMEATON