Name: Joseph Omar Asseff Rank: Private Service Number: Unknown Service: Royal Canadian Infantry Corps Date of Birth: October 23, 1918 Place of Birth: South Harbour, Victoria Co., Cape Breton, NS Trade: Truck Driver Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Mrs. Mary Asseff, mother, South Harbour, NS Date of Death: April 13, 1941 Age: 22 Cemetery: St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Dingwall, Victoria Co., NS Not currently commemorated in the Second World War Book of Remembrance in Ottawa Not currently commemorated in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial Joseph Omar Asseff was the son of Cape Breton merchant Mr. Joseph (1878-1965) and Mrs. Mary Ellen ‘Margaret’ (Fitzgerald) Asseff (1888-1981). Omar’s father was born in Damascus, Syria; his mother was born in South Harbour, Cape Breton, NS. Omar had seven sisters, Helen (-2019), Tisina ‘Ina’ (1912-2007), Effie (1914-1977), Eva Catherine (1924-1993), Sarah Jane ‘Sadie’ (1923-1998), Marcella, and Mary, and four brothers, Danic Joseph (1910-1911), John James (1908-1971), William Hyman (1907-1975), and Walter (1928-2019). For four years, until November 21, 1940, Omar worked for National Gypsum Canada Limited at the local gypsum mine in Dingwall, Cape Breton, as a truck driver. His date of enlistment is not known. It was late 1940 or the spring of 1941. He died of illness while in Basic Training. His cause of death is listed as Meningitis. He was interred in the St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Dingwall, NS.