Daniel Adam Alexander

West Point, 1994

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Alan Woodmansey on July 8, 2003:

I got this from Jim Isenhower. If anyone knows where to send cards please post. Woody I met Dan only once. We lived across the street from each other at Ft. Hood. We were on very different training cycles and probably passed in the night. Our wives, however, became very close friends, which explains why I'm familiar with Dan's case. Dan was in command at Hood and had been selected for a second command when he went to the hospital for some chronic leg pain. After several months of poor diagnoses, they discovered cancer--Ewing carcinoma--a pediatric cancer which very rarely appears in adults. I believe the diagnoses was made in 1999 or 2000. I don't think they know how he developed it. The cancer is so rare that Dan was literally the first person to use several experimental treatment drugs. One of my classmates, a pediatric oncologist, told me that Ewing carcinoma in adults usually leads to a very quick death, but Dan's fight was tremendous. He started chemo and performed remarkably well, and I believe about two years afterward it appeared as though the cancer was at least in remission. Unfortunately, a subsequent scan revealed its reappearance and rapid spread throughout his body. He was medically retired and died in his home in San Antonio with his wife and two children at his bedside. His wife's name is Breige and his children are Lance (5) and Lauren (7 months). Some of my details may be a bit off, as I watched this happen over several years from other posts, and all of my info came from my wife after she got it from Breige via the phone. At one point Breige had sent out to those who knew Dan a request for vignettes or short stories about Dan. Her intent was to place them in a scrap book for his children. Those of you that knew him might be able to do that for them, which would probably have a lasting affect on his kids. The funeral is Tuesday, 8 Jul at 1330 at the Catholic Chapel followed by internment in the WP cemetery. I'm teaching here at WP, will be out at Buckner next week, but would be glad to answer any more questions or help from here. If you need Breige's contact info let me know. Hope this info helps. Regards, MAJ Jim Isenhower Instructor, Dept of History TH 126A (845)938-8585/2537 DSN 688-8585/2537 james.isenhower@us.army.mil

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