He served in World War II with the Royal Army Service Corps, obtaining the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in 1940. He was later promoted to a full Lieutenant and in March 1941 to a Temporary Captain. The Service Corp was later attached to the 18th Infantry Division, arriving in Singapore three weeks before the Japanese invasion, which ended in a British surrender. He spent time following the surrender as a prisoner of war in Changi Prison, before being sent to work on the Burma Railway, working there for eight months. During his internment he came across his brother-in-law John Austin Dickson, and they helped each other through their captivity. His experiences during the war were rarely mentioned by him in later life.