Today Joan Para, Branch 25 (San Francisco) of the Royal Canadian Legion’s only remaining World War II veteran, turns 101 years old today.
Joan was born in 1924 in Lowestoft, England. She volunteered to serve in His Majesty’s Regular Forces at the age of 18 in June 1942. Joan was sent to complete aptitude testing in Honiton, Devon, where the military determined which jobs volunteers would be best suited, where she would be assigned to Army Communications. Joan then went on Bradford, near Leeds, for training and was eventually stationed in London, near Buckingham Palace. During her service in World War II, she held the rank of Driver (DRV), which was equivalent to private, within the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Joan was honourably discharged on May 3, 1946.
Branch 25 has been blessed with Joan’s active involvement since she joined the branch back in 2000. Personally speaking, from the time I joined the branch Joan was a regular attendee of each of our monthly lunch meetings – and it was only the pandemic and the loss of our regular venue that we didn’t get to spend time with Joan each month.
Below are some previous entries where you can read more about Joan, her service, and her involvement with Branch 25 :
Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 