He served on a freighter bringing potatoes from Jersey to Southampton, but overstayed his time ashore on the island, missed his boat, and was caught there when the Channel Islands were occupied by the German Army in July 1940. He obtained temporary farm work as a potato picker, but also began stealing from empty properties, resulting in arrest and prosecution in the Magistrate's Court. He was deported by the German occupying authorities, first to Fort d'Hauteville prison near Dijon, France, and eventually to an internment camp in Kreuzburg, Germany.