Joseph “Joe” Walker was born on October 5, 1907 to Joseph and Eliza Jane (Watson) Walker in Chadderton, near Manchester, England. Following seven years of primary school Walker, at the young age of 13, began employment with the Raven Cotton Mill, and at 17 years of age, he was enrolled at the Oldham Municipal Secondary School where he learned the skill of cotton spinning. In 1929, he emigrated to Canada under the care of the United Church of Canada and the YMCA, landing in St John, New Brunswick, before travelling on to Harwood near the shores of Rice Lake where he began employment on a farm. In 1936, he took employment at the Harwood Creamery, and in 1940 he transferred his skills to the Goode Creamery in Orono.
On March 25, 1942, at 34 years old, Walker arrived at the RCAF recruitment centre in Toronto and enlisted for service. Like Goldspink, he was assigned to the No. 1 Manning Depot, where he received his basic training, and undertook further specialized training for his assigned role as an electrician, tasked with maintaining and repairing aircraft electrical systems.
On June 20, 1942, Walker was assigned to the RCAF Aerodrome in St. Thomas for technical training, training which was intended to provide the knowledge needed to maintain aircraft from two nearby flight training locations. It was while in St. Thomas that Walker met and married his wife, Audrey Webber. Less than two weeks after they were wed, Walker was transferred to RCAF Station Sydney in Nova Scotia where he spent a year. On December 12, 1943 he reported to No 1 Y Depot in Halifax, and disembarked at Bournemouth on January 4, 1944. There he was assigned to the 409 Repair and Salvage Unit based at RAF Station Kenley in the Greater London area. Following the Normandy invasion, allied aircrafts began operating from newly built forward airfields, and Walker was transferred to one in June 1944. He would transfer between allied forward airfields in France, Belgium and Germany until December, 1945 when he returned home to Canada.
Following his return back to Canada, Walker initially settled briefly in Oshawa, and then he and his wife returned to Orono, where they raised three children and Walker took employment with the Department of Food and Agriculture in Bowmanville. Following his retirement, he worked with the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires at Oshawa City Hall, and became a member of the Masonic Lodge in Orono. Walker passed away of cancer in 1977 at the age of 69.
Courtesy of the Orono Weekly Times with special credit to Carol-Ann Oster
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