Kammala jumla mai zuwa: Dan asalin Barrow upon Humber a Arewacin Lincolnshire, kuma ɗan injiniya, Malim ya shiga Royal Navy a matsayin ɗan takara a lokacin da ya bar Kwalejin Weymouth a 1936. A shekara ta 1941 an tura shi zuwa jirgin ruwa mai haske a Scapa Flow kuma an ba shi mukamin Laftanar a watan Yuli na wannan shekarar. A ranar 13 ga watan Agusta, 1942, jiragen ruwa biyu na Sojojin Ruwa na Italiya sun yi wa "Manchester" ruwa a yayin da suke cikin wani jirgi zuwa Malta a lokacin Yaƙin Bahar Rum, kuma jirgin ya lalace sosai har Kyaftin dinsa ya yanke shawarar nutsar da shi. Yin shi zuwa busasshiyar ƙasa, Malim ya sami kansa a gabar tekun Algeria, inda sojojin Vichy Faransa suka kama shi kuma aka tsare shi a Laghouat. An sake shi a watan Nuwamba, godiya ga
Allied mamaye Faransa Arewacin Afirka, kuma 'yan makonni daga baya ya shiga cikin jirgin ruwa mai nauyi a Arewacin Atlantic. Daga nan sai aka tura shi zuwa Kwalejin Royal Naval, Greenwich, daga 1943 zuwa 1945.