During World War II he served as an officer in the Indian Army Medical Corps where he was attached to several different regiments and was posted to Iraq and Palestine on active service.

In 1945, he married Captain Elsie Victoria Spratt, a QA officer in the British Army and their first son, Sean Patrick, was born in March 1946 in Poona.

In 1947, the family went to live with Elsie's mother in Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and Ernest had to re-qualify as a doctor at Queen's University, Belfast.

After finishing his academic work in Belfast, Goodsir-Cullen took his family to London where he completed his training at the Westminster Hospital, which he also represented at hockey and, as by far the oldest player, at seven a side rugby where his pace on the wing was an asset.

His older brother William won a gold medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics as a member of Indian field hockey team.