He was born on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.
He served with 8 Naval Squadron RNAS which was renamed 208 Squadron RAF after the Royal Naval Air Service was mergered with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force. He achieved 12 victories in total, his first on January 24 1918 and his last two on October 3 1918. All of his victories were scored while flying a Sopwith Camel.
The citation for his DFC (published in the London Gazette on December 3, 1918) read in part: