VIP love for ex-Gunner on special day
10/02/26
Congratulations cards from VIPs helped mark a special day for Gunner Joe Cain and his wife Margaret.
Joe, a life member of the Royal Artillery Association Isle of Man Branch, and Margaret, marked 70 years of marriage with messages from the King and Queen and Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer and Lady Lorimer.
Joe was a member of the local Army Cadets from 1949 – 1951 as the drum major, before being called up for national service in July 1951, arriving first at Oswestry in Shropshire, before being posted to 49 Field Regt Royal Artillery. He completed two years’ service in Cyprus before transferring to the Territorial Army, where Margaret also served, learning to drive a three-ton truck.
The pair were athletes in their younger years; Margaret played hockey and Joe was a marathon and fell runner, and keen race walker. Joe even competed in the Isle of Man parish walk – a cruelling 85-mile trek in under 24 hrs. No mean feat.
On leaving the Army, Joe retrained as a butcher and then changed career to engineering, working for Dowty Engineering and Martin Bakers (ejector seat manufacturers).
His military life forged his love of brass music, and he is a life member of the Isle of Man Onchan Silver Band. Three of his grandchildren have followed in his footsteps.
Joe held RAA committee roles as vice chairman in 2001- 2002 and chairman of the branch for 11 years from 2002.
The pair has three daughters, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. They both live in a nursing home in Douglas on the Isle of Man, where friends and family gathered to celebrate them on their special day.
Warmest congratulations to you both!
