Harold Alexander

Field Marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a senior officer of the British Army who served with distinction in both World War I and World War II and, afterwards, as Governor General of Canada, the 17th since Canadian Confederation.

Quotes

• No other troops in the world but German paratroops could have stood up to such an ordeal and then gone on fighting with such ferocity.

• • Quoted in Peter Caddick-Adams: "Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell" (Oxford University Press, 2013) p. 289.

Quotes about

• I returned last week...from visiting the Italian front. I was up with the Eighth Army, that Army which will always seem to me to epitomize the unity of our Commonwealth and Empire. I saw there in Italy Canadians, South Africans, and New Zealanders. I recalled talking with General Alexander the great deeds of the Australians. As I saw our lads from all our countries so fine and gallant, I was thrilled with pride.
  • Clement Attlee, speech to the conference of representatives of the British and Dominion Labour parties in Westminster, London (12 September 1944), quoted in The Times (13 September 1944), p. 8

• I wish to acknowledge the many courtesies extended to me on this visit by the Governor General, Viscount Alexander, who paid me the honor of a visit in Washington a few months ago. His career as a soldier and as a statesman eminently qualifies him to follow his illustrious predecessors.
  • Harry S. Truman; Address Before the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, The American Presidency Project; 11 June 1947