He enlisted into the Army in Tongue in 1917, as a driver in the Army Service Corps and was sent for training in May of that year. Once he had completed his training he volunteered to be transferred into the infantry, joining the 1/4 (Hallamshire) Battalion, the Yorkshire and Lancaster Regiment. The Yorkshire (Pals) Battalions had suffered terrible losses at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, when they led the attack on the 1 of July. The losses were so heavy; that the English infantry battalion's home recruiting areas could not supply new recruits in the numbers required. A signal was then sent out for volunteers and the infantry battalions began to recruit soldiers from support units i.e. transport, engineers and supply. Many men volunteered to join the infantry so that they could become more involved in the fighting in the frontline; also pressure was put on men in the rear to become more involved in the fight.

On the 31 of July the British attacked the Germans to the East of the town of Ypres, in an attempt to break out of the Ypres Salient and take the Channel Ports. The ports were being used by U-boats to launch attacks on the convoys, bringing much needed supplies to Great Britain from America.

The artillery barrage fired in the days leading up to the Third Battle of Ypres turned the battlefield into a water filled swamp. On the first day of the offensive it began to rain as thousands of British troops went over the top and tried in vain to take Passchendaele Ridge. The fighting during this battle was the worst warfare ever seen in modern history, as men waded chest deep in water, to attack the enemy on the ridge above.