In the latter position he served for nineteen years, and gradually became active involved with the Moral Re-Armament movement.
Interrupting his studies, he joined Sir Ralph Paget's Red Cross relief unit in Serbia, and was present when the Serbian Army was forced to retreat into Albania.
[1] Afterwards he returned home to Britain and joined the Royal Garrison Artillery (the British Army's heavy guns).
[1] During Advent the following year he was ordained as a Priest of the Church of England on 19 December by the Bishop of Durham, Hensley Henson.
[1] On 4 December 1934 the Right Reverend Norman Henry Tubbs received news that he was to be superseded by West as Bishop of Rangoon.
Upon reaching Rangoon to assume the bishopric, he wrote; "Bishop's Court [the official residence] must be a heartbeat for the whole nation, a place for British and Burman, Indian and Karens to meet and find a common mind on an entirely new level of unselfish statesmanship where the spirit of God might touch and heal the bleeding wounds of Burma.
Seemingly unaffected by the outbreak of the Second World War, while travelling on 9 June 1941 West was involved in a serious motor car accident which left him unconscious for three weeks.
While working with the MRA he had come into contact with several Buddhists who would assist his understanding of dealing with them in Burma, helping to lower barriers which existed between them and Christians.
While recovering Karenni separatists marched on Rangoon, reaching a point only nine miles away from the city in January 1949.
It was partly thanks to the efforts of West, whom the Karenni respected and admired, that after a siege of one hundred and twelve days the Karen withdrew.