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<em>CPT David Lee Alexander</em> will always be remembered as ‘Dave,’ a name like those his mother gave all her seven children...Linda, Anne, Tom, Mike, Joe, Jim...and to her oldest son. A name that was solid, easy to pronounce, and didn’t get lost when he offered his hand with that ever present infectious grin to anyone who needed a friend, be it a plebe roommate, a yearling struggling with the decision to stay at the Academy, or young Army officers en route to Viet Nam stopping by his and his new bride Louie’s San Francisco pad.</p>
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His parents, Esther and Hubert, worked a 180-acre Pennsylvania farm, held second jobs to support their family, and adored their children. Farm chores and cow pasture ball games filled many summer afternoons, with the younger kids always wanting to be on big brother Dave’s winning team, some­thing his cadet friends would echo to a man later at the Academy.</p>
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Dave was Mr. Everything at Harrisburg’s Central Dauphin East High School—President of the student body, an A stu­dent, captain of the football team and star wrestler, and he even marched in the band. He was a cinch for an appointment to join the West Point Class of 1968. High school classmates fittingly have created an award in his honor for the school’s outstanding Scholar-Athlete.</p>
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Like many of his classmates, Dave’s Academy story has two sides. His impres­sive list of official entries includes Class Committee Rep, <em>Howitzer</em> staff, Sandhurst Summer Exchange, Cadet Company D-3 commander, brigade staff, and top 20% of his class academically. However, we remem­ber him more for the action-filled escapades, humorous anecdotes and near misses of him and his fiancée, Louise Waltman, affectionately known as ‘Louie,’ and his Delta Company Warrior friends as we wound our way towards graduation and, ultimately, Viet Nam.</p>
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Many treasure fond memories of Dave sprinting almost Roadrunner-like across Thayer Road to the cheers of classmates with his last minute all-niter term paper in hand to beat the deadline; stopping on a dime to salute a passing officer, and, “beep-beep,” cranking it back up before using a classmate’s shoulder to affix his signature af­firming it was his own work. He was a time management marvel yet still ranked high in the class academically.</p>
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Others still chuckle at times he and simi­larly penniless classmates thumbed rides back from weekend dates to barely make bed check. Or the First Class Trip’s overnight Thunder Road adventure from Ft. Benning to Florida, in which only Dave was deemed “mature enough” to sign the rental contract; and the puzzled look on faces of drivers who witnessed his orchestration of a bunch of cadets jumping out of the van at every stop light, running around the vehicle yelling airborne Jodie chants, and later boasting that the “Come as you are” neon sign at an all-night diner had to be taken down after Dave’s motley crew departed.</p>
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Dave and Louie Alexander were a great team. High school friends, they ramped up their romance while he was a cadet at West Point and often included classmates with their dates in their zany, low budget week­end activities. Their life journey included marriage in San Antonio, Air Defense of­ficer basic, assignment to a Golden Gate Bridge missile site and pre-Viet Nam avia­tion training. Sadly it all ended with Dave’s last trip home escorted by a classmate for burial in Hershey after the Chinook he was piloting crashed in 1971. Although she and Dave didn’t have a chance to have children together, we know he is up there grinning ear to ear, proud of Louie and her kids as though they were his own. He would have been a great Dad.</p>
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He remains in our memories nearly four decades later as though it was yesterday; young, happy, mischievous, and full of life, with Louie at his side. Everyone wanted to be on his team, whether it was sibling com­petition, intramural sports, pick-up games or just learning to play guitar. All knew that inside his happy-go-lucky exterior was a smart, rugged, Pennsylvania farm boy with grit and an unassuming natural leader with a huge heart who you wanted to follow be­cause he cared. We all loved him and he loved us. Dave, all of us are better for having known and served with you. Thanks.</p>
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<em>—Family and classmates</em></p>