Newspaper Article 2005 – Ralph Goddard Alexander

RALPH GODDARD ALEXANDER
April 21, 1919 – Oct 2, 2005

The life of Hawke’s Bay construction industry icon Ralph Alexander, who died in Rotorua Hospital earlier this month, could be characterised by three words: service, commitment and survival.

World War 2 left an indelible mark on servicemen that was never to be erased by time, so too for Ralph Goddard Alexander Private 36878, twice Prisoner of War.

He was part of the 3rd section of the 4th reinforcement that on arrival in Egypt became part of the 22nd battalion, and was posted with the Head Quarters company as a regimental signaller.

Stationed in a desert area near Bardia at Sidi Aziz, B company were supporting the 5th Brigade HQ but were soon overrun by a German armoured division.

First taken prisoner in November 1941, he was one of 1100 men held in a desert compound near Bardia, stony ground enclosed only by a fence, without buildings for shelter.

They slept in small trenches made by hand-digging. The desert was baking by day and freezing at night.

After about seven weeks they were released by a South African unit and were returned to Maadi base camp, and were soon called back from leave in Syria as the Germans were making an advance to El Alamein.

They took up position on an escarpment at Minquar Qaim but took a heavy pounding. Retreating hastily, they regrouped and made a fresh attack several days later.

Overpowered by the Germans they were rounded-up and sent to prison camp near Benghazi where they were held for five months and then shipped to Italy. They were held at Tutarano for four months and later at Aqua Fredda (near the town of Sulmona) for eight months.

Captured before the battle of El Alamein, the turning point of the African war when the Germans began to suffer and the Allied troops prevailed, Ralph Alexander and four colleagues escaped their lax Italian guards and fled into the Appenine [Apennine] mountains to avoid the more aggressive German patrols.

They were fed and protected for six weeks by Italian peasants who were very poor but gladly gave the soldiers half of anything they had.

They had to flee again and walked more than 100 miles (160km) through the mountains, crossing rivers and a 8000ft (2440m) mountain pass before they could find allied troops.

The group of five were sent back to base camp and then back to New Zealand in November 1943.

Private 36878’s certificate of discharge records 158 days service in New Zealand and two years and 340 days’ service overseas. Enlisted at age 21, discharged May 8, 1944.

A pupil at Nelson Park Primary School at the time of the 1931 earthquake, he had also gone to Napier Boys’ High School before the war, and wasted little time embarking on another stage of his life when in Dunedin on September 25, 1945, he married Marie Beck.

They had met when a war colleague brought his family to Napier for a holiday, and had three sons and two daughters in a marriage which reached its 60th anniversary a week before he died.

Marie faithfully supported Ralph in his many endeavours, which were typical of his generation, service to the community both a priority and a privilege.

He derived a great benefit from scouting, rising to the level of assistant scout master in the St Augustine troop. A highlight was an international Jamboree in Sydney in 1938.

He served on the Westshore sea scouts committee for 21 years, being chairman from 1956-66, and designed and arranged the building of the sea scouts’ den and boat shed that stands at Westshore.

Those were the days when working bee had a different meaning, for Ralph and friends felled the trees, trucked them to Holts mill for cutting into framing, and built the den, all voluntary labour.

He was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Boy Scouts’ Association of New Zealand in 1966.

Rotary was  a also [also a] big part of his life, and he served as President of Napier West club in 1971-72 and was made a Paul Harris Fellow in the 75th Jubilee year of Rotary International in 1992.

He also served as president of the Hawke’s Bay Master Builders’ Association in 1956 and 1961, and as president of NZ Master Builders’ Federation in 1965-66.

He was also the Master Builders’ Standards Council representative from between 1966-82, and the HB association made him a life member in 1979.

Other organisation to which he contributed included the Napier Chamber of Commerce, and the Napier electorate of the National Party.

He was community representative on the HB Catchment Board from 1983 until it was dissolved in 1989, and he was Patron of the Port Ahuriri Bowling Club.

Perhaps his commitment was most clearly demonstrated through R G and C Alexander Ltd.

He started work as a building contractor, working from the family garage in Georges Drive in 1947, joined in 1956 by brother Cedric.

Starting in housing, they diversified and started a timber joinery factory, which was destroyed by fire in 1965, leading them into the innovative field of aluminium joinery manufacture as the factory was rebuilt.

In the 60s and 70s, the company grew into commercial and industrial projects but economic times were hard and they had to keep finding new ways to stay ahead and this led them to get into some civil engineering projects.

Son Steve, now based with Alexander and Co in Auckland, said in his eulogy at the funeral at St Augustine’s in Napier last Friday: “I recall the discussions about how to dig a pumping station and keep the water out when below river level. They had not built a pumping station before.”

Other memorable projects included the Wairoa Post Office, the Onekawa heated pool, and the Wool Testing Authority, but there were many others.

Another son, Chris, ran the company from the early 1980s until 1993 but Ralph always retained a close interest.

Ralph and Cedric trusted each other unquestionably, despite differing approaches to life and business, but their trust in each other was absolute. They put the business first and the company was far more than an income. “They had a great sense of commitment and loyalty to their employees and to the wider community,” said Steve Alexander.

R G and C Alexander Ltd survived 50 years, through which many other contractors had bigger, brighter and grander plans but failed.

Ralph survived three children. Patricia, the first-born, died shortly after birth. Dennis, the first son, died of cancer aged 31, and Chris aged 42.

Ralph is survived by Wife Marie, son Steve and daughter Wendy, 10 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

– Steve Alexander

Photo caption – RALPH ALEXANDER