Midland war graves tour leader dies aged 82
A former police officer who took thousands of people on visits to war graves across Europe and was awarded the MBE for his charity efforts has died at the age of 82.
Alex Bulloch, of King's Norton, Birmingham, founded the War Research Society together with police force colleagues in 1972. For more than 40 years he took people to the last resting places of relatives who fell during both world wars, mainly in France, Belgium and Germany.
Mr Bulloch, who received the MBE in 2008 for charitable services, was born in April, 1932, in East Lothian, Scotland.
After national service in the British Army, he joined the Merchant Navy in 1956 and became an assistant baker on the Queen Elizabeth. He also served on sister ship the Queen Mary as an assistant cook and later aboard the Caronia, which regularly undertook world cruises. He also worked on board the Mauretania 2.
In 1957, Mr Bulloch joined City of Birmingham Police, going on to found the force's pipe band.
He served as a police constable for 10 years, later winning promotion to sergeant, and attended the Birmingham Pub Bombings in November, 1974. He retired from the force in 1988.
Mr Bulloch decided to stop making the trips last year for health reasons.
Tony Knight, who has carried on Mr Bulloch's work as one of the organisers of Battlefield Memorial Tours, said: "Alex was a very driven man of high principles and low patience.
"He could be difficult, argumentative and did not stand fools. On the other hand he could be and was a very generous man, and very kind man who gave extraordinary time and effort to what became his defining life's work of taking thousands of people from all over the world to the battlefields and war cemeteries of Northern Europe.
"Until recent times his work ethic and energy was unbelievable and he did this whilst caring for his late wife whose progressive illness became gradually worse; she had Parkinson's disease for 28 years.
"He was a man of high principles of honesty and integrity, he had been a police officer until retirement, following national service and after leaving the merchant navy in the 1950s.
"He had raised thousands of pounds for various charities over the years.
"His trips always ran a raffle with the proceeds going to good causes such as the Birmingham Children's Hospice, Commonwealth War Graves Commission and very many other worthy causes. It was for this and his battlefield tours that he was awarded the MBE in 2008."
Mr Bulloch was a Freemason for many years and a life member of Dunbar Castle No 75 Lodge. He was on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and also the Lodge of St Andrew Province of Warwickshire.
He regularly appeared on local radio and answered questions about his work with the society.
Mr Bulloch's wife Jessie died in 2012. He leaves two sons, Keith and Ian.
His work has been carried on by Battlefield Memorial Tours. For details call Brian Long on 01629 650780 or visit battlefieldmemorialtours.co.uk.
