Before the war he visited Norway several times and gave lectures on English Literature at Oslo University.
He volunteered for the Navy, but when a special appeal came from the War Office for men with certain language qualifications he responded to that.
After little over two months at an infantry OCTU he was posted, as an intelligence officer, to the 1st Independent Company (later to become the 1st Commandos) [3] to Norway and was taken prisoner early in May 1940.
At this camp, the prisoners organised a 'University' and Buxton gave lectures in English and helped in the work of the library.
His love of the countryside and of birds, apparent in his poetry, was a constant solace in camp life and bird-watching was, for him and several of his fellow prisoners, Peter Conder, John Barrett and George Waterston, one of the keenest of their few pleasures.