Canadians across the nation will soon pay tribute to the valiant men and women who have given their lives in service of our country and freedom.
Remembrance Day is a day when we remember those who died in service of Canada. However, it is also a time to remember and give our respect to those who survived, for they too gave their lives for freedom.
Joe Asquin, 82, of Drumheller, is one such veteran.
Like many in Drumheller at the time, Asquin’s father worked in the coal mines, specifically the Midland Mine. The mines during World War II were busy, owing to the demand for coal across Canada and beyond.
At the start of World War II, Asquin was a boy of 9. When he joined near the end of the war he was only 15 years old.
“I joined up after my fifteenth birthday, then they sent me overseas. I only caught three months of it. I had seven brothers and sisters, and they were going into the forces. I didn’t want to be left out. I finished Grade 9, then when the school got burnt down I decided to join the forces,” Asquin said.
Before joining, however, he tried the life of a miner.
“I went down below one day and that was enough for me,” said Asquin.
After enlisting, Asquin was trained in Manitoba and joined the Canadian Provost Corps, otherwise known as the military police. He was shipped off with the First Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment.
When he went overseas to England, there was only several months left in the war. However, he ended up losing part of his right leg.
“I lost my knee, my leg, and my foot in the last two months of the second world war. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Asquin.
Asquin recovered and was given prosthetics to help. After World War II, he stayed in the military and when the call was made for Canada to join the Korean War, Asquin went with his regiment.
“They went to Korea, so I went too. I looked after the ones who tried to get away,” said Asquin. “I was in Japan most of the time. The people treated us really good. If we needed anything, they’d try to get it for us. The Japanese would give us free meals, because we were looking after their places for them.”
They came back once their tour was over, but before he could settle into a new life, Asquin was sent back for another tour, because there was a shortage of military police.
Eventually he would return home, but the homecoming was bittersweet.
“I lived in Midland and when I got home, our house had been bulldozed over into the river bank and mom and dad were dead,” said Asquin. “They died while I was overseas. You just have to grin and bear it. Take the good with the bad.”
Afterwards he worked as an auto mechanic in Drumheller and then moved to Calgary to do the same.
Asquin may have returned home, unlike so many others, but he, like many who survived, gave up so much.
“You’re not yourself anymore,” said Asquin. “I’m still not myself.”
Joe Asquin (right), a Drumheller native, with his jeep in Korea. Asquin served as a member of the Canadian Provots Corps, the military police. In the closing months of World War II, he lost part of his right leg. He then served in Korea.
