Bertrand, Alexander
No.414 – Quarter Master Sergeant Alexander Bertrand – 44th Battalion AIF
Alex Bertrand was born in Fitzroy Victoria to Alexander & Jane Bertrand in 1888. The family moved across to Western Australia and took up residence in Lilburn Road North Fremantle and then Cottesloe Beach (now Mosman Park). Alex was educated at Fremantle Boys School and after leaving school began work as a salesman and prior to the war was a Commercial Traveller for a Tobacco Company.
On the 28th December 1915 Alex offered his services to the AIF. He was given a medical examination which found that Alex was 5 feet 7 & ½ inches in height; weight of 130 lbs; chest measurement of 32-34 inches; dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His religious denomination was Church of England.
Alex was accepted as fit and was initially sent to No.44 Depot and then transferred to B Company of the newly forming 44th Battalion AIF with the regimental no.414. The 44th Battalion was based at Claremont Show grounds but trained at other places around the Perth area. Prior to the Battalion embarking on service overseas Alex married his sweetheart Grace Berry. They were living in the North Fremantle/Buckland Hill area. A son, Vernon Bertrand would be born in 1916 after his father had left WA.
On the 6th June 1916 the 44th Battalion embarked at Fremantle Harbour on the A29 “Suevic” and sailed for England, reaching Plymouth on the 21st July 1916. The next four months would be spent training on the Salisbury Plains. Alex, by now a Corporal, would have more responsibility in this training in making sure the men were ready for the rigours of life on the Western Front.
On the 8th November 1916, Alex was sent to Hospital ill, however was soon discharged and embarked with the 44th Battalion when they left England on the 25th November 1916.
On arrival in France, the Battalion was sent to the region of Armentieres where they learnt the ropes of trench life. They were in this sector for December through to March 1917. In January 1917, Alex was promoted to Acting Company Quarter Master Sergeant for a period of 11 days, then temporary Sergeant for three days, then promoted to the rank of Company Quarter Master Sergeant.
The 44th Battalion had by now moved to the Ploegsteert area near Messines. This had been a hotly fought over area since 1914 and many of the peaceful peacetime woods in the vicinity had been devastated. The 44th Battalion was stationed near the Hill 63 sector.
On the 2nd April 1917 Company Quarter Master Sergeant Alex Bertrand was killed in action by a German shell. There were eyewitness accounts of his death. Private E Brown of the 44th Battalion stated that;
“He was killed instantly by a shell. I saw his body immediately after he was knocked. It happened at Inverness Dump (Ploegsteert) on April 2nd. He was waiting there for us to bring up the rations, and was hit about ¼ hour before we got there, it happened about 9am. There were about 14 killed and 3 wounded by the same shell. He was buried in the Berkshire Cemetery in Ploegsteert. I saw his grave, it had a cross erected with his name, number etc.’
CQMS Alex Bertrand was buried in Berks Cemetery Extension Ploegsteert in Plot M.31
After his death his wife Grace and son Vernon Alexander Charles Bertrand would receive a pension. In 1924 Grace Bertrand remarried to a Charles Isaacs.
Alex’s father Alexander Bertrand died in Mosman Park in 1942 and his mother, Jane in 1945.