Joe Warner is a Canadian who joined the fighting in Israel in 1948 because he felt “it won’t be worth being a Jew elsewhere if Israel did not survive.” Joe had graduated high school in Toronto in the midst of WW2, and he had enlisted in the RCAF, and began training in different parts of western Canada. Joe was selected to be an air gunner, and while he was all set to serve Canada against the Axis threat, the war ended before he could be sent overseas. Joe set about preparing for a postwar career, when events in the Middle East intervened. Joe signed on to fight for Israel in 1947, and he was soon on his way, sailing from New York to France, and then on to Israel. Joe fought in southern Israel, in the Faluja area. The battles in which he participated helped free the Negev from Egyptian control of main roads. The combat – especially around the strong concrete police fortress of Iraq-Suidan – was intense. Wounded in action, Joe recuperated, and along the way met his first wife.
With his training as a pharmacist, Joe was called upon to be a pharmacist/ medic. He responded by setting up a first-aid station at Hazor, making use of medical equipment and supplies seized from the Egyptians. This early hands-on experience apparently served him well, as for 15 years he helped establish and manage Pfizer drugs in Israel.
Joe was interviewed for this project in his home in April 2018, when he sat down with Mr. Masters.
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