[4] After completing basic training at Bathurst, New South Wales in June, he was sent to England among a draft of reinforcements.

[2] Joining the battalion on the Western Front in November 1916 at Flers, France, Buckley served with it as it manned defensive positions along the Somme during the winter months.

[2] The following year, after the Germans withdrew towards the Hindenburg Line,[5] Buckley took part in the fighting around Bullecourt, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde and in November 1917 he was promoted to temporary corporal.

[2] In August 1918, the 54th Battalion took part in the initial stages of the Allied Hundred Days Offensive around Amiens.

On the night of 1/2 September 1918, at Peronne, France, during the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, Buckley performed the deeds that led to him being posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.