 During the Second World War he served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in France in 1940 and two years later he was as a sergeant major in the 2nd Parachute Brigade.He was involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, then the allied invasion of Southern France and was subsequently promoted to Regimental sergeant major.As a result of his wartime experience during the Dunkirk evacuation, his father suffered from what was then known as combat fatigue (related to what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder).