During the First World War all fit and able men were called up and my father joined the Royal Flying Corps.   He had just qualified as a jeweller and was in his first job in Newport. When he joined the RFC he found opportunities were greater in the new field of electrical signalling so he spent his time building and operating illuminated target practice. Carpenters built a representation of an area of German terrain, with valleys, hills and factories. Using MES lamp-holders, flashlight bulbs and No.8 batteries these could be hooked up and switched easily enough.  Trainee pilots were suspended in the ceiling of the training hut and my father and his mates were hidden beneath the table which had a representation of the topography of the land.  The pilots dropped bombs, by closing a switch the flash of explosion could easily be seen if a target was hit (or so he told me).
 

Whilst I don't know the date of his call-up nor the date of his demob, it must be assumed he was there until the last few weeks of 1918, or sometime in 1919.  He then returned to civilian life with his knowledge and ideas much expanded by wartime experiences.  

 

He decided to quit the jewellery business and set up in radio.  His brother Charlie was by then a successful ships' chandler and had enough money to set my father up in the new occupation of installing radios. They developed this embryo business and made a local name for their firm by broadcasting gramophone records to Newport and surrounding areas.  The crucial word was 'installing'.  If you wanted radio equipment in those days, brought in experts and the business was named the South Wales Wireless Installation Co. Ltd  - quite a mouthful but it was ahead of its time.   The BBC began to broadcast in 1922 so that curtailed their efforts to broadcast locally in Newport and my father concentrated on building and installing wirelesses.  This must have been successful because within a few years they abandoned retail to become radio wholesalers.  They served an area that encompassed Newport, Cardiff and the valleys, calling on every radio shop supplying the components that were needed to keep a wireless working in the home.