ARTICLES

BIOGRAPHY
Joe’s June letter to Grover was brief. He was “happy and smiling…laying [sic] in the sun in a
lovely wood, full of beautiful flowers” in a rest camp “somewhere in France.” The big guns, he
tells Grover, “have been sending Heiny some ‘iron rations,’ and every time they shoot I think
‘that’s the stuff to give ’em.’” He was upset that parcels were no longer allowed, “for it means we
have to use English tobacco and it sure is awful stuff…about every three puffs…you have to
stop and splutter and groan before you can start again.” 8
Source: http://theywerethere.canalblog.com
A Canadian post in Valenciennes, 1 November 1918
Towards the end of August, Grover received another letter which revealed that parcels and
letters were flowing through again. Joe was “a tickled boy…two parcels and a bunch of letters
will almost bring a dead man to life over here.” He was looking forward to drinking a can of
Marigold condensed milk, “good old Oregon milk from Newburg, Oregon, for supper.”
He didn’t like the rest camp: “there is no estimaminets near and they mean mademoiselles and
m’sells, mean ‘parley vou francaise’ and it all helps to pass the time away.” 9
In September 1918, the East Oregonian ran a short story which shed light on a number of facts
about Joe Despain’s military accomplishments since his enlistment in the Canadian Army
twenty-one months earlier. Besides his arm wound, he had suffered from “trench foot” and
army life had made a ‘“huskier’ man of him.” Even so, he weighed only 150 pounds. He had
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