B46320 Pte Mitchell, Alexander enlisted in Toronto with the 2nd Battalion, Toronto Scottish Regiment as his service number is one allocated to the Toronto Scottish.  He was not on the Sailing lists in June 1943 when the 1st Battalion, 48th Highlanders sailed from England for the landings at Pachino Sicily.

On 18 March 1944 as a Sergeant he joined the battalion in Italy from the 48th Highlanders X-4 list. The x-4 list is those 48th Highlanders who are in theater, in this case Italy, as reserves to be called to the battalion as replacements. The battalion was in the Arielli river area on the Adriatic side of Italy engaged in holding the line and doing aggressive patrols into the German lines. On 22 March he was attached for all purposes back to the X-4 list and then on 27 March ceased to be attached to the x-4 list (returning to the battalion).

He was with the battalion when they moved across Italy to the Liri Valley in April, with battles starting on 17 May 1944. He is mentioned in our regimental history Dileas on pages 534-5 on the night of 17/18 May in the Liri Valley as a Sergeant in Support Company, employing his 6-pounder anti-tank weapon to great effect against German SP guns and infantry. “These were brave Germans. The infantry collected themselves from the surprise of the flare, and loss of the guns. They staged one more rush. Sjt. Shaw’s and Sjt Mitchell’s guns both joined the Brens and grenades of Dog company, and the attempt was quickly sent to ground.” It was this action in which Sgt Mitchell was mentioned in the War Diary of the battalion, thus receiving his Mentioned In Dispatches.  (It was published on 26 May 1945). He participated in the breaching of the Adolph Hitler Line at Pontecorvo on 22/23 May. Then the battalion went to a rest camp at Piedmonte d’Alife for a couple of months, during which the orders show him as Orderly Sgt on 26 June and 26 July.

Sgt Mitchell continued with the battalion when they moved back to the Adriatic to attack the Gothic Line. He was wounded on 4 September 1944, in the advance from the Conca River to the Marano River (page 636 in Dileas). He doesn’t appear to have returned to the battalion in Italy as he is not on the Sailing List of 12 March 45 when the battalion with the 1st Canadian Division sailed from Leghorn (near Genoa) to Marseilles, France on the way to complete the liberation of Holland.

Now CSM, Mitchell is on the Sailing List of 4 to 5 September from NW Europe to the UK when the battalion began its trip back to Canada, and he participated in the homecoming parade of the 1st Battalion in Toronto on 1 October, 1945. His son would serve with the PPCLI in Korea.