Winfred Bennett Joy Jr.

T/5 in 3133rd Signal Service Co

ASN#31452046

Born 1925 in ME, Died 1994

County of residence at enlistment: Hancock County, ME

Other residence(s): Northeast Harbor, ME; Ellsworth, ME; East Hampton, CT; El Paso, TX; Spokane, WA; Bremen, Germany

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: high school student

Notes: SGT in 1944 Christmas Program

Source: 3133rd Program, 15 Sep 1944; 3133rd roster from 10th Mountain Division Museum at Fort Drum; AES 1944 Christmas Dinner Program; photo from Ancestry®

Win Joy was born on December 17, 1925 in Southwest Harbor, ME, a small town on Mt. Desert Island. He was the middle of five children; his father was a manager at the local A&P grocery store (a position he held for 24 years) and his mother was a music teacher with a private studio.

courtesy Ancestry®

He grew up in Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor, and graduated from Gilman High School in 1944 (probably in January) in a tiny class of 15 students. He enlisted on February 22, 1944 and ended up assigned to the 3133 Signal Service Company, seeing service in Italy with the unit.

A June, 1945 article in the Bangor Daily News described how he and his fellow members of the 3133rd set up a rest camp on the shores of Lake Garda, a mountain lake in Northern Italy. The camp was designed for R&R use by members of the signal units of the 5th Army in Italy.

Win was discharged from the Army on June 26, 1946 with the rank of T/5 and returned to Maine, using his GI Bill benefits to study Romance languages at the University of Maine at Orono. On December 20, 1948 he married fellow student Anna Harden Lurvey; she was also a military veteran who had spent 18 months in the WAVES.

courtesy Ancestry®, University of Maine 1950

After their marriage, Anna and Win lived in Orrington, ME with her parents while they continued pursuing their studies, and he worked part-time as a grocery clerk. They had a daughter, Priscilla, born in the fall of 1949. Win received his degree in 1950, and at some point thereafter the young family moved to El Paso, TX; by 1952, Win was working as a buyer at E.A. Shaw & Co. there.

By the fall of 1954, the Joys were back in New England, living in Crystal Lake, CT. Win had taken a job at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in Rockville-Vernon, CT. At his sister's wedding that fall, a musical composition of Win's was played on the organ, and Anna was given the honor of serving the bride's cake. But that togetherness was short-lived. They divorced in May, 1955, and in July Win married Lillian Helen Kuritz.

By 1958, Win and Lillian were living in Spokane, WA; Win was still working at Pratt & Whitney, as a field rep. They had two sons in Spokane: Phil and Win, Jr.

By the mid 1960s, they were living in Bremen, Germany and sometime after that they returned to Connecticut.

Win served as master of the Anchor Lodge of Masons in East Hampton, CT.

He died on October 19, 1994 at his home in Ellsworth, ME; probably a vacation home. His obituary says that "he touched everyone he came in touch with. He was giving and intelligent and had the gift of making people laugh."

Win is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Ellsworth, ME, along with his wife, Lillian, who outlived him by 16 years.