Alfred was born in January 1925 in Mile End, London to Lazarus (known as Leslie Harry) and Milly née Klyman and he had an older brother Jack and a younger sister Eileen. Their father Leslie worked as a ladies tailor.

Alfred enlisted at the beginning of 1943, and after training as a flight engineer he was posted to 207 Squadron.

Alfred was the flight engineer on Lancaster PD210 which departed from RAF Spilsby on a night operation to Revigny. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at St Germain-La-Ville, France killing six of the crew. The wireless operator John Chapple was blown clear of the aircraft and was rescued by a local baker Pierre Lahanque who found him badly injured on a ridge off the road from Chalons, France. John was hidden until he was rescued by American forces and returned home.

Further information on his story will be available soon.

The crew who died:
A/G, Howard Frederick Edmunds, RCAF, J/90345.
Nav, John Hague, 1452134.
A/G, Charles Higgins, 984434.
Pilot, William Ross McNaughton, 176729.
A/B,  Rowland Tibbs, 149460.

The crew are buried alongside each other in St. Germain-La-Ville Churchyard, France facing towards England.