Before being called up for National Service, I took it upon myself to join the RNVR Fleet Air Arm as a Junior Naval Airman, aiming to become a fighter- pilot. Having failed my maths test, I then transferred to 48 Commando City of London RMFVR as a Boy Royal Marine. Following my initial training as National Service Royal Marine, 1st Class, I was sent to Officer Cadet School and later was commissioned into the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and served the rest of my National Service as a 2nd Lieutenant at the training depot in Omagh, Northern Ireland. I then volunteered for a secondment to The Royal West African Frontier Force, with the Second Battalion, The Gold Coast Regiment, stationed initially in Accra, having been promoted to 1st Lieutenant, after having completed a course at the Army School of Transport. The Regiment changed its name to The Ghana Regiment of Infantry shortly after the country gained independence, just before I arrived in West Africa.