Joseph-Albert Ganin was born January 20, 1931 in Montreal. He was raised by his grandmother in Ste-Cecile-de-Masham, a small town where several of his uncles also lived. School ended early for Joseph – he did not in fact attend past Grade 3. The family relocated to Ottawa, and Joseph grew up there during the war years. When the war was over, he headed to Sudbury and then Sault Ste-Marie, where he worked on the Great Lakes for a time. Southern Ontario and a stint in the tobacco fields followed. The Korean War was heating up by then so the young Joseph joined the Canadian army, he was assigned to the Royal 22nd Regiment – the “Van Doos”. Training at Camp Borden took place, and then he boarded the troop ship and headed off across the Pacific in 1951, bound for Korea. Joseph saw action on the front lines, and he was part of the Battle for Hill 355, which he says he was lucky to survive. Joseph dealt with the daily rigour and horrors of the war too, from the cold and discomfort to the nightly patrols and shelling. Joseph returned from Korea, and he was sent to the Canadian Arctic and transferred to the Airborne Regiment. He also met and married Simone during this time, and she was able to accompany him on a deployment to Germany as part of the NATO forces. Joseph made a career of the military, staying in for 24 years. He was interviewed by Scott Masters at his home in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec in March 2026.
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