Eccleston, Joseph

When he was two years old, Joseph Eccleston was brought here from Blackburn, Lancashire, England, by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Eccleston, who then established a new home in the city. Twenty years later he returned to his native land as a soldier of the Canadian Army and a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery, and subsequently lost his life in battle. It was on July 5, 1944, that 23-year-old Gnr. Eccleston, fighting in the Carpiquet sector in France, was bombed in a motor truck and then fatally shot by an enemy sniper. As a small child, he made many young friends in Holmedale, where he lived at 186 Grand River Ave. He attended Dufferin School and the Collegiate Institute and Vocational School. He learned to swim in the Grand River and played on the Holmedale softball team. Later, he worked at Waterous Limited. In 1942 he enlisted, and after six months' training in Ontario, went overseas. To use an old saying, he came by his good characteristics as a soldier "honestly", because his father was a veteran of the First Great War and had been awarded the Military Medal for bravery. Now he is a corporal in the Veterans' Guard, attached to the Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles.


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