JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER

Captain James E. Alexander, Class of 1968 and former member of the 25th Cadet Squadron, died 16 June 1972 from injuries received in an aircraft accident on 7 March 1972 near Reese AFB, Texas. Captain Alexander is survived by his parents, Colonel and Mrs. Glenn R. Alexander.

I have a story about Jim Alexander. His dad was a Colonel at Maxwell while we were cadets and would always send a T-29 to COS at holiday times. We became good friends. But I also knew his brother, Jon, from the University of Alabama ROTC (I was there '63-64). Early March 1972, I was working the night shift at the 7th AF TACC (Blue Chip) when Jon (T-39 Scatback pilot) came into the command post saying he needed to get home. His dad had just called saying Jimmy was in critical condition after a T-38 accident and not expected to live. I stopped what I was doing, checked the boards, and got him on a flight out that night. His dad retired to COS and I saw him almost weekly when we were there on the faculty '77-80. He got a job reading water meters for El Paso county and loved it because he was outside meeting and talking to people. We talked a lot about Jim. Sometime in the early '80s, Jon saved an F-4 that lost power over the Atlantic, getting it back to Goose Bay. (Vern McGraw)