Tuke enlisted with the New Zealand Army immediately at the start of the First World War. Serving with the 6th Hauraki Regiment, he travelled with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to Europe. Highly thought of, he was offered a commission into a regiment of the British Army, but turned down the offer, opting to remain with his own regiment. He saw action during the Gallipoli campaign and was seriously wounded in action while undertaking a reconnaissance of Ottoman trenches at Quinn's Post. He was evacuated to the hospital ship , where he succumbed to his wounds on 7 June 1915.