[1] Joseph Michel initially taught at the Kpando Presbyterian Senior School.
On 4 August 1943, he joined the colonial army at Ho in the Volta Region via the school teachers' special enlistment programme.
He attended a Platoon Commander's Tactical course at Warminster in the United Kingdom in relation to his appointment.
Brigadier Alexander G. V. Paley, who was then Head of the Gold Coast Army, in a response to a report recommending his promotion wrote:"He is loyal to his immediate superiors and is obedient both to orders and to the wishes they express.
He was cleared by the Medical Board in July 1956 and he was nominated for Staff College which he attended during 1957 at Camberley, United Kingdom.
His final report mentioned that he was: "An intelligent and shrewd officer with a pleasant personality who has entered fully into staff college life and made many friends.
Although he has been prone to listen and learn rather than put forward his own views, he has shown that he possesses much sound common sense and a very fair military background.
Following the April 1960 plebiscite on a republican constitution, Michel was selected to become the aide-de-camp of President Kwame Nkrumah.
[1] Michel was selected as part of the military contingent from the Gold Coast to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London in 1962.
He was based at Buckingham Palace and accompanied the queen and Prince Philip on her 17 days tour of Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
He lobbied Mr Dadzie, Head of the Ghana Mission at the United Nations in New York City.
[1] On 3 September 1961, Michel died following injuries he sustained in an air crash at Kumasi, Ghana.