Corporal Joseph Mathew Gregory was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 sniper

Sniper

A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....

 during both the First

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and Second World Wars. He concealed his age and joined the army at 15. He told friends he developed his later talent for sniping as a boy when he hunted in Saskatchewan. He had the use of a camera during his action in World War I and had a large collection of photographs documenting the horror he witnessed.He was from Northampton England

After his service as a sniper in France during the First World War, Gregory settled in Calgary, Alberta with his wife and worked as a labourer. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, he re-enlisted with the newly formed South Saskatchewan Regiment

The South Saskatchewan Regiment

The South Saskatchewan Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces formed in 1936 by the amalgamation of The Weyburn Regiment and The Saskatchewan Border Regiment. It was reduced to nil strength and placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle in 1968...

 on 7 September 1939 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan

Weyburn, Saskatchewan

Weyburn is a city in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina and is north of the border with the United States. The name is reputedly a corruption of the Scottish "wee burn," referring to a small creek. The city is...

.

Credited with several kills, he participated in the Dieppe Raid

Dieppe Raid

The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter or later on Operation Jubilee, during the Second World War, was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5:00 AM and by 10:50 AM the Allied...

, where he lost an eye to a ricochet

Ricochet

A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearms safety rule "Never shoot at a flat, hard surface."-Variables:...

ed bullet. His actions earned him the Military Medal

Military Medal

The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....

 "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the combined attack on Dieppe". Attached to the Battalion Headquarters, Gregory had been deployed four times to find enemy snipers shooting into the headquarters.

He became a celebrity after his return to Canada and was employed in Canadian Army recruiting.

In the mid-1950s he worked at the RCAF base at Tofino BC and remained in the Tofino area for the rest of his life. He died sometime between the late 1950s and early 1960s. At Tofino he was an avid duck hunter and fly fisherman and taught many people these skills.

His account of the Dieppe raid appeared in Time magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

's October 26, 1942 issue, and he was also interviewed for the December 1 Hamilton Spectator.