Uncle Tom joined The Royal Navy on the 20th July 1941 he started training at HMS Ganges on the 28th as an ordinary signalman that was until 31st July as he started training as an ordinary seaman. He completed his training on 2nd October 1941 and then mainly served in home waters on HMS Pembroke I, HMS Pembroke IV.
Passage, HMS Circassia, and finally he joined the ill fated HMS Dasher, he joined the ships company on 29th April 1942 as an ordinary seamen in the Atlantic and in North Africa during operation Torch. On his last leave at his house in Holloway his sister asked him not to go back but we would not hear of it. He sadly perished when the Dasher suffered a massive internal explosion killing 379 sailors on 27th March 1943