Joseph was born in London. He married Muriel Irene Hoare at Kings Lynn towards the end of 1942. On the 8th Dec 1941 he had been best man at the wedding of Roy Harrison Hoare and Mary Louise Jefferies, both from Kings Lynn. The bridesmaid at the wedding was Miss M Hoare indicating the couple already knew each other.
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Norfolk Scout Section | Scout Section Corporal | 13 Nov 1940 | 30 Apr 1943 |
| Combined Norfolk Scout Section | Scout Section Corporal | 01 May 1943 | 31 Jan 1944 |
| SAS 1944-1945 | SAS combatant | 01 Feb 1944 | 31 Oct 1945 |
| SAS 1944-1945 | SAS combatant | 01 Feb 1944 | 31 Oct 1945 |
French Polisher
Joseph was a career soldier having enlisted in the Devon regiment in 1932, aged 18. On 18 Dec 1934, he left with them for India. On 13 August 1935 he transferred to the 1st Battalion, The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, remaining with them in India until 1938 when they left for Palestine, arriving there on 11 Oct. In July 1939 they were moved to Egypt, then brought home to the UK.
He went overseas again with the British Expeditionary Force on 17 Feb 1940, but was evacuated after being injured near Dunkirk. He was reportedly flown out in a medical evacuation which was very unusual at that time. He suffered a knee injury resulting in a couple spells in hospital in England to recover. This meant he was no longer attached to his battalion and returned to the depot. He was transferred to The Royal Norfolk Regiment on 12 Nov 1940 but the following day was posted to Auxiliary Units and appears to have reverted to his former regiment, being posted to West Norfolk.
29 Apr 1941 Appointed Acting Lance Corporal, then on 1 Jul promoted to Acting Corporal and on 29 Sep to War Substantive Corporal.
Along with many other members of the Scout Sections, including a number of his comrades, he was recruited to the Special Air Service in January 1944, joining them on 1 Feb. It appears that he did not deploy to France or Germany with them and the family history has him as batman to 1 SAS commander Blair Mayne at his UK base. This is supported by his discharge testimonial being written on 12 Nov 1945 personally by Mayne, which would be unusual. Mayne described him as "a reliable trustworthy man" and "extremely smart in his appearance", "sober and steady" and "spares no pains to achieve perfection". He did however join the rest of the British SAS in Norway in the immediate aftermath of the end of the war, helping to disarm German troops in the country. For this he received a certificate from Prince Olav of Norway. He was discharged from the SAS on 30 Oct 1945 leaving the Army altogether on 14 Jan 1946.
