Alex Buchnerwas born in 1920 in Starnberg, Bavaria. Having left school, he volunteered to join the German Army Mountain Troops in 1939. By the end of the war he was a first lieutenant and an officer commanding a company. He spent two months in an American prisoner-of-war camp and was released on 25 July 1945. After re-armament and the founding of the Bundeswehr, he remained engaged with the army and retired as a major (reserve).