On completion of his initial training John would leave with 2 Squadron on the 20th March 1915 to serve in France & train as a Wireless Operator.  In October of 1915 he qualified as an official Wireless Operator with the Post Office Engineering Department (a body which would later go on to become British Telecom).   This department trained not only their own employees but those serving in the Armed Forces in morse code, signalling & radio operation.

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Unlike the Wireless Operators of WW2 who took their place in Bombers the equipment & batteries required to power such equipment during WW1 was much too heavy for Bi-planes, there was little room in the cockpits & it left the Pilot & Observers open to attack.   Early communication relating to enemy locations etc was therefore carried out by dropping notes to the ground.

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By 1915 things had moved on & maps of the area were coded & squared off to allow locations to be better identified.  Observers were now provided with maps & wireless sets & were able to transmit target locations (a job that took practice & skill) to the Wireless Operators on the ground via morse code.   This allowed battery units on the ground to adjust their firing & gauge results.   This communication was one way so Airmen had no means of receiving messages, which meant that they had to keep an eye out for signals coming back indicating that the message had been received, often this was carried out by signal lamps.

Wireless Operators on the ground would serve alongside Artillery, Calvary or Infantry Units, which often created a problem as the Operators Equipment was open to damage as were the men themselves to injury or worse, death.  The job would have taken a lot of focus & trying to decipher faint morse code signals often with little light & with shells & gunfire surrounding them would not have been an easy job!    Sadly, Hundreds of Wireless Operators would lose their lives during World War One.

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On the 1st May 1916 John was promoted to 1st Class Air Mechanic & on the 1st October of the same year to Acting Corporal.

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In January of 1917 he would be promoted to Corporal which would become Corporal Mechanic when the Royal Flying Corps amalgamated into the Royal Air Force on 1st April 1918 & at this time, he would receive a daily pay of 5 shillings.

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He would remain in service in France until 19th February 1919 & was awarded the Victory, British & 15 Star Medals.

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After the war John would marry Sarah Bailey in 1926 in Middlesbrough.

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At the start of World War Two John & Sarah were living at 32 Orchard Way, Ormesby, Middlesbrough & John was working as a Lorry Driver.  At this time, they are doing their bit for the war effort & have an 11-year-old Evacuee named Thomas Barwick living with them.

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John & Sarah would later move along the street to number 22 Orchard Way where they would remain until both of them passed away within months of one another in 1978.