Joe Benkhe joined the army in 1927 and remained in until after WWII.

In June 1937 he was assigned to establish the Signals station at Gordon Lake. Then in February 1939 he moved the equipment from Gordon to Thompson Lake. He left Thompson in Sept '39 and returned to the Kingston area where he married Esther Courneya, a nurse, in November '39. He was promptly shipped to England, where he accepted an offer to become a CFR officer. He returned to Canada for 9 mos. in '42-'43 as an instructor and then returned to Europe where he eventually rose to the rank of major and was mentioned in dispatches by Gen. Montgomery.

Joe left the army in the general downsizing following the war and returned to the Pembroke area (the family home) taking a job at Chalk River. He passed away in Nov 1982.