Mike was born in 1947 and was the son of a Cork man James Joseph in Dagenham.
Once grown Mike decided to join the Army and on the recommendation of an older brother joined the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars in 1968.
He trained at Catterick and eventually joined ‘A’ Squadron at the Gunnery School in Lulworth, Dorset as part of the RAC Centre Regiment doing many of the varied duties of the Gunnery School.
After a spell in Woolwich Hospital due to an accident, he returned to Lulworth where he became the fire/ambulance driver.
Mike moved to Paderborn with the Regiment in 1970 and spent the next 10 years there with visits to Canada and Cyprus thrown in, after the Canada trip he decided that married life was for him, unfortunately soon after his marriage, he was off to Cyprus for a nine-month unaccompanied tour to help keep the Greeks and Turks apart.
Returning to Germany in 1975 Mike was promoted to lance corporal in 1977 and finally to corporal in 1979, during this period he had trips to Canada twice, the UK three times and finally Norway. He finally left the Army in December 1980 due to family commitments.
Mike liked nothing better than to sing Irish songs and finished his life living in the Southend area of Essex, where he was well known as a club singer. Unfortunately, his first marriage failed and he later met and married Jennifer with whom he had six happy years until his death from lung cancer.
He was positive to the end and wanted no tears just smiles. He had a traditional Irish wake in Southend on Sea organised by Jennifer and his many friends.
