He was invalidated to England in October 1915 where he was discharged from the AIF so that he could join the Royal Field Artillery of the British Army as an officer in December 1915.

[1] In September 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive, he was awarded the Military Cross while serving on the Western Front for putting out a fire.

[4] He was appointed to the new portfolio of Home Security in the Menzies ministry in June 1941 and was responsible for civil defence until the fall of the Fadden government in November 1941.

In 1942 he was appointed chairman of the Administrative Planning Committee, which was responsible for organising supplies for the United States forces in Australia during World War II.

[3] One of his half-brothers, Mac, was the member for Upper Hunter in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1913 to 1918 and a Senator from 1935 to 1941,[6] while the other John Henry was a novelist and poet.