Having been educated in Hungerford, Frank Tucker left school and worked for Mr Lewington, the Coal Merchant, then for Mr Dodds, the Nurseryman, in what is now Hillside Road.  Before he was called up he was working for Mr J T Gibbs the Builder.  In his spare time he was a Bell-ringer.

Frank was called up on 12 December 1940 and joined the Royal Pioneer Corps at Parkhurst.  After basic training he qualified as a Driver with his Unit.  It is not known what duties he carried out during the period up to his illness other than he was involved in building defences on the East Coast.

It was in early 1943 that he first went into the Military Hospital with stomach trouble, something he had suffered with for many years.  It appears that this complaint was aggravated by Army food, and in April 1943 he was graded to Category C and his diet changed in the hope that this would help the situation.

He was later admitted to hospital for minor surgery and at first appeared to be making a good recovery but on 14 July 1943 his condition gave cause for concern as his temperature began to rise and he complained of pain in his chest.