During World War I he initially served as a private in the Highland Light Infantry. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1918 and was then moved to The 34th County of London Battalion. Six days before the 1918 Armistice he was seriously wounded at Bruyelles in France. Courageous German medical orderlies risked intense shelling to rescue him and he was taken prisoner. His injuries resulted in the amputation of one leg. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1919 and invalided out in 1920.