Enlisting in the Australian Army on 3 November 1939 he was allotted to the &lt;a href="2/1st%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/1st Battalion&lt;/a&gt;. Identified for his potential he was transferred to the intelligence section of 16th Brigade headquarters. Arriving in the Middle East in February 1940, he was promoted to sergeant and later commissioned probationary lieutenant on 27 June. As the brigade intelligence officer, he participated in the battles of Bardia and Tobruk in January 1941. He was posted to the &lt;a href="2/2nd%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/2nd Battalion&lt;/a&gt; in May and served with it in Egypt and Syria.