Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I haere ia ki te Kura Kaimahi, Camberley mai i te 1931 ki te 1932, i te taha o Brian Horrocks, Sidney Kirkman, Cameron Nicholson me Thomas Rees, i kite ano a Dowler i te mahi tuuturu i te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao, i te timatanga i te 1939 hei Kaiwhakahaere Whakahaere (CO) o te 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment ka rite ki te Kaiwhakahaere Kaimahi Matua (GSO) me te 49th (West Riding) Division Infantry. I te tau 1940 i whakatairangahia ia ki te Brigadier me te mahi i runga i te General Staff o V Corps, a, i whakatairangahia i te 1 o Oketopa 1940 ki te koronel, i muri mai ka whakahau i te 2nd Infantry Brigade. I whai wāhi ia ki te
Ko te haerenga o Narvik i te tau 1940, he waahanga o te pakanga o Norway. I te tau 1942 i whakatauria ia hei General Officer Commanding (GOC) o te 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division, kātahi ka noho ko ia hei Major-General e tohutohu ana i te Whakahaere o te Southern Command. I whakawhiwhia ia ki te whakahaere mo te Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) i te 1944.