Alexander Fraser Leslie was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 23d, 1877. He was a son of G. A. and Margaret Leslie, since deceased, of Halifax. As a young man he followed the lobster fishing trade for some time, then turned his attention to telegraphy. This latter occupation claimed his time almost continuously thereafter, with the exception of a few years devoted to mining in Nevada, both in civil life and in the army. He served in the Signal Corps during the Philippine Insurrection, but was discharged for disability before it terminated. In 1914 he was married to Miss Olive C. Austin of Salt Lake City, Utah.

His military service dated from December 4th, 1917, when he enlisted from Elko, Nevada, in Company M, 27th Infantry, Ft. McDowell, California. With this unit he sailed for Siberia on August 7th, 1918, and remained in its ranks until September 25th, when he transferred to the Headquarters Company of the same regiment. On April 20th, 1919, he was changed to Provisional Company I, Spasskal, Siberia, serving with it until August 13, 1919; then on account of his knowledge of telegraphy, he was assigned to Company D, 53d Telegraph Battalion, Signal Corps. Less than a month later, September 12, 1919, he was carried away by disease at Vladisvostok, Siberia. His remains were returned to the United States and buried in Grave No. 594-A, Presidio, of San Francisco, California. Besides his widow, Mrs. Olive Leslie, residing in Salt Lake City, Utah, (730 Glendale Street), the soldier left a brother, Jack Winifred Leslie, and a sister, Marguerite, both of Los Angeles, California.