What I never knew!

Ok, so my grandpa: Famous! You heard me.
The other day I was having lunch with my aunt and uncle, and we were talking about this fabulous but unseasonably warm weather when my aunt said,
"It's going to snow, it always snows around daddy's birthday"
Not having known this little tidbit, I asked why, and she answered that he had been born in a blizzard.
So here is the story. My great grandmother is having a rough go of it. Her husband died when she was 6 months pregnant, so her sister comes to move in with her during her confinement, which is lucky, since near the end of her pregnancy great-grandma gets the measles.
She's got a high fever, the doctor is out of town, and this massive blizzard starts raging... that's when she goes into labour! So she pushes through and grandpa is born with a mild case of the measles, PLUS due to the blizzard, the pipes have frozen, ergo no water!
My grandpas' first bath was in beer! I love it!
So great-grandma and grandpa had a bit of a tricky start, but they make it through, life goes on.
Fast forward a two decades and the war becomes pretty central. Grandpa goes off and mans a radar station in New Brunswick I think, and while he's out there he meets all kinds of people from all over. One day, he introduces himself, John James Irvine, and a young soldier looks at him and asks:
"What did you say your name was?"
Grandpa repeats himself, and the soldier with a bit of excitement says:
"There was a John James Irvine who was famous in our town for being born in a blizzard with the measles and washed in beer"
And grandpa says:
"That was me, nice to meet you"